By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor House Democrats have decided to play ball and participate in a special committee charged with investigating the Obama administration's handling of a 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead and forced the withdrawal of U.S. diplomats from the eastern port city. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi named five Democrats to the panel: Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Adam Smith of Washington, Adam Schiff of California, Linda Sánchez  of California and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. Some in the Democratic caucus had floated the idea of boycotting the committee and leaving Republicans to pursue the Benghazi investigation, opening the opportunity to paint the investigation as a partisan political stunt in an election year.
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House Democrats will have five seats on the new Select Committee, to the Republicans' seven
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The panel is charged with finding out what happened before, during and after the September 11, 2012 military-style attack on U.S. diplomatic compounds in Benghazi, Libya
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South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy, a hard-nosed former prosecutor, will chair the committee
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The ranking Democrat will be Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, who has been a thorn in the side of the GOP as the House Oversight Committee investigated Benghazi on its own
The outspoken and sometimes cantankerous Maryland @placeholder Rep. Elijah Cummings will counter Gowdy as the ranking member of the House minority on the panel