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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. (Kathryn Scott Osler, Denver Post file)

WASHINGTON House Democrats will participate in the special, Republican-led select committee investigating the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, despite serious concerns within the party that the inquiry is an election-year ploy to energize core GOP voters.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that she will appoint the full complement of five Democrats on the 12-member panel, tapping lawmakers who have been deeply involved in previous congressional investigations of the Sept. 11, 2012, assault on the U.S. diplomatic outpost.

Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, died in the attack when militants stormed the mission. Republicans have accused the Obama administration of misleading Americans about a terrorist attack weeks before the election.

"I believe we need someone in that room to simply defend the truth," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, to reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Cummings will serve as the ranking member on the select committee. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had selected Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a seasoned prosecutor, to be the panel's chairman along with six other Republicans.

Democrats who also will participate are Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel; Adam Schiff of California, on the Intelligence Committee; Linda Sanchez, also of California, who is on Ways and Means' oversight subcommittee, and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who serves on Armed Services.

Democrats have been divided over whether to boycott the investigation, the eighth probe into the attack. Some Democrats have called the new inquiry a political sham designed to embarrass the Obama administration and rough up former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Other Democrats have maintained that they must participate in the select committee to ensure they have a role in questioning witnesses. "We can't simply let the Republicans run the show," Smith said.

The special investigation means high-profile hearings with Republicans likely to target current and former administration officials, including Clinton.

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House Democrats to participate in Benghazi investigation

It wasn't all that long ago that Republicans used gay marriage as a tool to drive Election Day turnout. But as public opinion on the issue has turned and courts strike down same-sex marriage bans, gay rights is evolving into a wedge issue for Democrats to wield.

Consider Pennsylvania, where Democrats have lambasted Republican Gov. Tom Corbett for comparing gay marriage to incest. Facing a tough re-election campaign, Corbett decided this week not to appeal a federal court ruling striking down the state's ban of gay marriage.

Or Colorado, where Democratic Sen. Mark Udall is hitting his Republican challenger for casting votes that denied gay people protection from discrimination. In Arizona, Democrats plan to hammer Republican legislators who passed a law allowing businesses to refuse to serve gays for religious reasons.

"We're just beginning to see this, and we will see a lot more in the midterms," said Richard Socarides, an activist who was President Bill Clinton's adviser on gay rights. "It will be an incredible shift by the time we get to the (presidential) election in 2016."

That election will arrive 20 years after Republicans in Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Clinton signed the bill defensively, worried the GOP would use it as a campaign issue, Socarides said. Republican activists put anti-gay marriage initiatives on the ballot in 11 states in 2004, helping President George W. Bush win re-election with the support of conservative religious voters motivated to turn out to support the bans.

Connie Mackey, head of the conservative Family Research Council's Political Action Committee, said that's still a solid strategy. Voters still oppose gay marriage, she argued, and Republicans should not let themselves get faked out by overconfident Democrats.

"The people in the states think one way and the establishment and the courts are showing a different face," Mackey said.

But gay marriage, supported by less than one-third of Americans in 2004, is now supported by a solid majority in recent polls, with approval highest among younger voters. Some Republicans believe that mounting public support represents a danger to their party, and they are scrambling to prevent Democrats from using the issue of gay rights in the same way some in their own party did for years.

"They want to bait Republicans into talking about the issue in a way that ties them to a negative, national Republican brand," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who hasn't taken a position on gay marriage. "They need to stir up their base and create outrage."

Nevada Republicans dropped their opposition to gay marriage last month from the state party's platform, and a national campaign is underway to remove such language from the national party platform in 2016. Major Republican donors have formed a coalition to push the party to become more gay-friendly.

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Shifting Views on Gay Marriage Now Favor Democrats

Democrats named five lawmakers to the U.S. House select committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the advice of senior lawmakers who said it would be better to have people in the room for hearings that Democrats have criticized as overtly political. Other Democratic lawmakers had favored boycotting them entirely.

I believe we need someone in that room to simply defend the truth, said Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He will be the ranking Democrat on the Benghazi panel, Pelosi said.

Other Democratic members named are Representatives Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee; Adam Schiff and Linda Sanchez of California; and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

Congress started investigating the Benghazi attacks less than a month after they occurred on Sept. 11, 2012, calling attention to the Obama administrations initial statement that the violence stemmed from spontaneously inspired demonstrations over an anti-Islamic video.

Officials later said attackers with links to terrorist groups stormed a diplomatic compound and set fire to it. That attack, and another one hours later at a CIA annex, killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

The House voted 232-186 on May 8 to create a select committee to investigate the attacks and the White House response, which Republicans have called a cover-up.

Democrats have said the panel is politically driven, designed partly to damage Hillary Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2016 who was secretary of state at the time of the attacks.

Pelosi of California, who has said that past House inquiries didnt give Democrats an adequate say in decisions, met yesterday for an hour with House Speaker John Boehner to discuss terms of participation in the panel.

Representative Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican and former prosecutor who will lead the committee, said in an interview yesterday that the seven Republican members will hold an organizational meeting this week.

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Democrats Join House Benghazi Panel They Opposed Forming

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks to the media while House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill, May 20, 2014 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson, Getty Images

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that Republicans will block an immigration-related amendment offered by one of its own members because it would be attached to a much larger defense authorization bill.

The ENLIST Act, offered by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., would allow immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children before 2011 to earn legal status by serving in the military. Arguing that the bill changes military code, not immigration law, Denham intends to offer the bill as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act during a meeting of the House Rules Committee Tuesday afternoon.

"The ENLIST Act provides an avenue for those who want to perform the ultimate act of patriotism - serving their county - to earn legal status. As a veteran, I can think of no better way to demonstrate your commitment to our nation," Denham said in a statement. The bill has the support of 26 Democrats and 24 Republicans.

But Boehner told reporters Tuesday morning the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets budget levels for the Defense Department, isn't the right place to attach the amendment.

"We have supported it in the past but trying to do this on the National Defense Authorization bill seems just to be an inappropriate place to do it," Boehner said. Asked whether Denham's bill would be considered on its own, Boehner said there had been "discussions about that but no decisions."

Denham argued that the defense bill contains other immigration-related provisions, so his proposal should be considered as well.

Critics, including the conservative Heritage Foundation, argue that allowing non-citizens into the military is a threat to national security.

"Although there have been non-citizens who have served honorably in the U.S. armed forces in the past, the nation is engaged in a unique type of war today against a non-state actor that cannot be easily identified," two Heritage experts wrote. "Additionally, since very little may be known about these individuals, the risk of recruiting dangerous individuals increases. This risk is amplified by the fact that the promise of backdoor instant citizenship may draw individuals who do not actually believe in the mission of the U.S. military."

Denham argues that the 2011 cutoff means the bill would not be a magnet, and also said he served with many immigrants during his 16 years in the Air Force who were "wholly dedicated to our country and to its best interests."

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John Boehner defends shutting down immigration idea

Sounding a lot like Democrats, Republican members of California's congressional delegation are vocally supportive of immigration reform. Pew research found 7 in 10 Hispanics say it's important that new immigration legislation pass this year, and 9 in 10 California voters support reform.

Republican Rep. David Valadao says he's not worried that Congress' failure to pass immigration legislation will hurt his prospects for re-election to a district in California's agricultural heartland. Same goes for GOP Rep. Jeff Denham, who represents a neighboring district in the state's San Joaquin Valley.

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Still, the California congressmen are making sure voters know they support an immigration overhaul. They're aware that Democrats will try to turn the congressional gridlock into an advantage during this year's midterm elections.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $300,000 on television ads in Valadao's district, noting that he is the son of immigrants. Denham highlights an award he received from the nation's largest Latino advocacy group for "putting sound immigration policy over party politics." He was the first Republican co-sponsor of a sweeping immigration bill now stalled in the House.

"People have seen I've shown real leadership in driving this issue forward," Denham said.

Sounding a lot like Democrats, some Republican members of California's congressional delegation are making the case that changing the law is necessary to help farmers and businesses and to keep families together. But they also are members of a party that has stifled immigration-overhaul efforts, providing a political opening for Democrats in a state where immigrants are a crucial underpinning of the economy.

A recent national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that about 7 in 10 Hispanics say it's important that new immigration legislation pass this year. And a California Field Poll last year found that 9 in 10 California voters support allowing immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally to stay and become citizens if they work, learn English and pay back taxes.

Valadao, Denham and about a dozen other Republican lawmakers nationally are in districts that have a sizeable and growing Latino population. Latinos make up more than half of the registered voters in Valadao's district and about a quarter in Denham's.

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Breaking with GOP, Calif. lawmakers tout immigration overhaul (+video)