House Energy and Commerce Chairman John D. Dingell , D-Mich., on Friday identified a “whip team” of lawmakers helping him fend off a challenge from Henry A. Waxman of California for the committee gavel.

The 26-member lineup, which Dingell called an “initial team,” includes fellow committee chairmen as well as members of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and the Congressional Black Caucus. It also includes newly elected members, a group Waxman may try to woo as he frames his campaign to unseat Dingell as a move for change and a new direction.

Dingell now has the formal backing of several committee chairmen, including Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Agriculture Chairman Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Californian Ellen O. Tauscher , who also chairs the centrist New Democrat Coalition.

It’s believed that Waxman, the committee’s senior Democrat after Dingell, would not mount the audacious, unprecedented bid to topple Congress’ longest-serving member without tacit backing from Speaker Nancy Pelosi , his home-state colleague. Pelosi has remained neutral in public.

“We have more than enough to block Mr. Waxman’s claim that he can get the chairmanship,” said Rep. Bart Stupak , the Energy Subcommittee chairman. Stupak, like Dingell, is from Michigan.

But Waxman is also garnering support from many quarters, including one of Dingell’s proteges on the committee: Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. , of New Jersey.

Dingell’s aides have been confidently predicting that he has the votes to fend off a challenge from Waxman.

“So far, the main thing Rep. Waxman’s challenge has prompted is an outpouring of support for Chairman Dingell,” Dingell spokeswoman Jodi Seth said late Thursday. “We are confident that Dingell has secured the votes needed to continue his chairmanship.”