Rangel is being forced out by the 1960s ultra-radical faction, because he is 4th in seniority in the House, and #3 Dave Obey is retiring. This would automatically give Rangel the chairmanship of the most powerful committee in the House, the Appropriations committee, if the Democrats keep the House after the next election.
Good analysis.
Who stands to take that chairmanship if the donks keep the majority? Or perhaps they are hedging, knowing they might lose the majority, and have someone on a leash who will become ranking minority member?
Who else is being protected while all the attention is on Charlie?
List of current members of the United States House of Representatives by seniority
On the surface it would appear to be Pete Stark (D-CA), but when Rangel temporarily stepped down from his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means (taxes) Committee, Stark was only in for a couple of days before he was replaced, because he is both crazy mean, and tends to sexually harass. Nobody wanted him in that job.
(Oddly enough, they went all the way to #19 among Democrats, Sander Levin (D-MI) to take over Ways and Means, and there must be a heck of a story behind skipping over all the others.)
Technically, absent both Obey and Rangel, George Miller (D-CA) would take the job. However, being passed over for Ways and Means likely indicates that there is either something seriously wrong with him, or he has no interest in the Ways and Means chair—which may or may not carry over to Appropriations.
Just from this exercise, you can see that they spend a lot of time figuring out who to put in what job. They divide by faction, interest, tradition, rules, some degree of competency, favors owed and get even payback, etc.