John Murtha’s seat in the southeastern corner of the House chamber sat empty Monday, save for a folded American flag that had flown over the Capitol in his memory.

The chair, reserved for the senior Democratic member of the Pennsylvania delegation, was Murtha’s power perch for years – a gathering spot for Pennsylvanians, defense appropriators and a coterie of other friends and protégés who learned the House’s rhythms and folkways at Murtha’s knee.

It is rare that any vacant seat would cause the House to truly pause. But Murtha wasn’t just any member, and his chair isn’t just any seat. Murtha’s charm, seniority and power over the massive Pentagon budget gave him outsized sway in an era in which party leaders have grown in strength and few individual lawmakers have the clout to influence others. His post at the edge of the floor was a hub of behind-the-scenes activity.

Though the limits of his clout were on display when he was crushed by Steny Hoyer of Maryland in a race for majority leader following the 2006 election, Murtha could deliver assistance to the leadership of either party – or a rank-and-file ally – on any given roll call. Whether it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime ally, asking for help or then-Republican Whip Tom DeLay, whose interests occasionally aligned with the Pennsylvanian’s, Murtha knew where to pick up extra votes.

His absence Monday –- palpable to longtime observers of the House -- provided a somber closure of sorts to his congressional clan, who two weeks ago learned of his death from complications related to gallbladder surgery and trekked to his funeral in western Pennsylvania last week.

“I think it just hit a lot of us,” said Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), who served with Murtha for 15 years. The first day back in the chamber after a two-week House break, huddled around an empty seat in the elevated back pew with Murtha’s friends, is “what I’ve been dreading,” Doyle said, “realizing he’s not going to come up.”

The right to sit in the last seat in the “Pennsylvania Corner” -- sometimes called the “Murtha Corner” -- belongs now to Paul Kanjorski, a northeastern Pennsylvanian first elected to the House in 1984, a decade after Murtha.

But no one is expected to sit there anytime soon.