Eye on O'Neill for Majority Leader Post

Most on Smith Hill believe that Majority Leader Gordon Fox will be the next Speaker of the House. But there is quite a bit of jockeying to replace Fox as the number two in the chamber. 

The latest intelligence from Smith Hill: Deputy Majority Leader J. Patrick O'Neill, a Pawtucket Democrat, could be in line to be the next majority leader.

O'Neill, favored by some progressives and moderates, is emerging as an alternative to Representative Nicholas Mattiello, a more conservative Cranston Democrat, for Fox's right hand.

Talk of Representative Stephen Ucci, a Johnston Democrat, emerging as majority leader seems to have faded. Ucci, who is campaigning for the Speakership, was thought to be in position to take the majority leader's post as consolation prize. But his recent public criticism of Fox, in the midst of the Speaker's race, could make an alliance more difficult.

Keep an eye out. This could all be settled in a matter of weeks.