When House Speaker Bill Murphy steps down later this week, he will hand  the gavel to his loyal lieutenant, Gordon Fox of Providence.

House Speaker is one of the two or three most powerful jobs in state government, yet the campaign for the post has been invisible to all but the 75 state reps and the usual gang of state House lobbyists, journalists and pols.

The campaign has been playing out behind the scenes for months now, with Fox and Murphy lining up support from Democrats who form the vast majority on Smith Hill.