Nancy Pelosi

As reported, Hillary Clinton is calling for George W. Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

Nancy Pelosi, who has taken an active role in the fight over remaining uncommitted superdelegates, made the same public demand earlier this month.

The statement just released by the Clinton campaign:  read more »

A reader sends over a letter, dated today, from some of Hillary Clinton’s top fund-raisers to Nancy Pelosi. They’re responding to Pelosi’s recent comments in an ABC News interview advocating the Obama campaign’s line on superdelegates, which is that superdelegates ought to follow the lead of the pledged delegates. (If they do, Obama wins.)

The fund-raisers note, in a passively menacing way, that they are “strong supporters” of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, before urging Pelosi to “clarify [her] position on superdelegates and reflect … a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August.”

The letter is signed by Marc Aronchick, Clarence Avant, Susie Tompkins Buell, Sim Farar, Robert Johnson, Chris Korge, Marc and Cathy Lasry, Hassan Nemazee, Alan and Susan Patricoff, JB Pritzker, Amy Rao, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Haim Saban, Bernard Schwartz, Stanley Shuman, Jay and Tracy Snyder and Maureen White and Steve Rattner.

UPDATE: The Obama campaign responds after the jump.  read more »

Whatever her official posture, Nancy Pelosi is not neutral in the Democratic primary.

Typically, for instance, someone who is neutral wouldn’t say that victory by one of the candidates would be “harmful.” That’s essentially how Pelosi, the supposedly impartial House Speaker, has characterized the prospective nomination of Hillary Clinton.

“If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what happens in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party,” Pelosi said in an interview for ABC’s “This Week” that was taped late last week.  read more »

Gullible voters keen to treat the onset of the 2008 primary season as a hale sign of life in the American democratic system had best avert their gaze from Capitol Hill this week. For as Congress winds down the year’s business with earmark-laden appropriations bills and unsightly cave-ins to Bush prerogative after Bush prerogative, the governing metaphor is not the campaign scene’s notorious horse race—something that, for all its by-the-numbers familiarity, at least connotes forward motion.  read more »

Last evening, as the writers' strike got into full swing and late-night talk shows halted production, one comedian found a venue for his work. Stephen Colbert was tapped to introduce House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Glamour's Women of the Year awards, where she received special recognition from the Conde Nast title. So for one night, the only people watching Mr. Colbert were in the packed Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. To read the text of Mr. Colbert's introduction--in which he displays a suspiciously comprehensive knowledge of current women's fashion--click through to the jump.  read more »

The last two times Democrats enjoyed untrammeled dominance in Washington, the consequences for the party were catastrophic. But there's hope if the fates align in 2008.  read more »

It can often to seem to rank-and-file Democrats as if the Republicans are still in charge of Congress: Nearly a year after their party picked up 31 House and six Senate seats, the war in Iraq still rages, with tens of thousands of more troops deployed now than then. This failure to force even a beginning to the end of the war accounts for the painfully poor poll standing of the Democratic-led Congress, with the party faithful even more restless and frustrated than independent voters.  read more »

During her visit to City Hall today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she supports re-opening the federal victim’s compensation fund to pay for health care costs of rescue workers affected by 9/11. She did not say which specific bill she supports. Ultimately, she said, the plan has to be “sustainable.”

“I believe we must address the issue. Again, there are several proposals on the table. But what we want to do is bring them together and take the smartest approach to it. We want to have an approach that is sustainable.”

A spokesman for Bloomberg said the mayor and the speaker also discussed the Tiahrt Amendment, which the mayor says stymies law enforcement from tracking illegal guns. The spokesman, Stu Loeser, declined to elaborate on what, if any agreements, were reached on that issue.

Christine Quinn and the City Council will unveil on September 18th the Council’s federal agenda, where these and other issues will be revisited.

Nancy Pelosi helped raise a cool $300,000 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last night at the Upper East Side home of Dennis and Karen Mehiel, according to one of the guests, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

In addition to Maloney, who I ran into at a Women for Hillary event this morning at the Hilton, the guest list of elected Democrats included representatives Steve Israel, Nydia Velazquez and Chris Van Hollen.

The House Speaker may have handed the government a license to crush.  read more »

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is coming to New York on June 3 for a fund-raiser at the suburban home of Dennis Mehiel, according to a Democratic source.

Mehiel, a successful businessman from Westchester, has been a major source of Democratic money in the state for years.

He also ran for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Carl McCall in 2002 and was New York chair of the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004.

The outcry from Congressional Democrats was justifiably loud when conservative members resorted to p  read more »

Later today, Representative Joe Crowley of Queens will be reappointed as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Business Council, the fund-raising arm that reaches into the deep pockets of business leaders nationwide.

Crowley's fund-raising prowess was cited in the recent past by Charlie Rangel earlier as a reason to give him a seat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

It seems he still has the touch.

UPDATE: Crowley will also perform with his Bruce Springsteen tribute band in DC tonight. Details after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just approved a waiver that will allow Joe Crowley to sit on the Foreign Relations Committee in addition to the the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, something he might otherwise have had to give up.

Normally, Ways and Means is one of the committee assignments that requires the assignee to give up seats on all other committees. (The others include Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Appropriations and Rules.)

"I am grateful to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Steering Chair Rosa L. DeLauro for this opportunity to serve on the Committee on Foreign Affairs," Crowley said in a public statement.

Seems like whatever lingering resentment Pelosi may have had about Crowley opposing her unsuccessful candidate for House Majority Leader are over with.

-- Azi Paybarah

Rep. Anthony Weiner will take the gavel from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tomorow when the House debates the anti-war resolution.

Its a nice perk for the congressman who backed Pelosi's preferred, but losing, candidate in the race for House Majority Leader.

It's also a happening at a convenient time for Weiner to get himself in front of the cameras -- just as likely 2009 candidates Adolfo Carrion and Christine Quinn are making high-profile speeches of their own.

Not that we're keeping track or anything.

-- Azi Paybarah

Starting January 18, a new book by a Sept. 11th survivor about how to end partisanship in politics will be available for free download over here.

You can check out several chapters of the book, Roadmap to Non partisanship, by Vijay Duggal, who said he sent word of his book to Nancy Pelosi and a other congressional leaders.

How good it is, I'm not sure. But non-partisan is a nice ideal to reach for, and free isn't too high a price, is it?

-- Azi Paybarah

True to her word, newly elected Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand has followed up on a pre-election pledge to make her daily schedule public. This is, needless to say, a highly unusual practice in Washington.

The first one is here.

* Breakfast honoring Rep. Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

* Congressional Open House with constituents visiting from the district.

* Floor Votes (See Congressional Record)

* Ceremonial Swearing-In with Speaker Pelosi

* Reception for constituents

* Rep. Gillibrand had no scheduled meetings with registered lobbyists.

-- Azi Paybarah

Rep. Joe Crowley just got a seat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, and is contemplating getting a waiver to keep his seat on the Internationals Relations Committee.

Quick, inside-baseball read: Crowley's good relationship with Steny Hoyer is helping him more than his lousy relationship with Nancy Pelosi is hurting him.

-- Azi Paybarah

UPDATE: Crowley just called to contest my characterization of his relationship with the incoming house speaker. "If it wasn't for Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi, I wouldn't be on this committee: no if, ands or butts about it," he said.

As for the recent Democratic leadership race that essentially pitted his team against Pelosi's, Crowley said, "That's behind us."

Congressman Anthony Weiner just got onto the energy and commerce committee, one of five "exclusive" committees in the House, a DC reader called to say.

That means that Weiner will have to give up his seats on the judiciary and transportation committees unless he gets a waiver from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who he sided with in the leadership fight.

Any idea how this might help (or hurt) Weiner's ability to deliver tangible benefits to New York by, say, 2009?

-- Azi Paybarah

When it comes to the field of Democratic Presidential hopefuls, Chris Dodd has clearly decided that  read more »

A good rule for understanding the U.S.  read more »

When it comes to the field of Democratic Presidential hopefuls, Chris Dodd has clearly decided that  read more »

It’s been barely a week since her fellow House Democrats officially picked Nancy Pelosi as their c  read more »

It’s been barely a week since her fellow House Democrats officially picked Nancy Pelosi as the  read more »

In today's Quinnipiac poll, 45 percent of voters said Condoleezza Rice is the most powerful woman in the country.

That's compared to 29 percent who said the same thing about Hillary Clinton, and 23 percent who said it about Nancy Pelosi.

Regardless of who voters support in a presidential race, 56-41percent said Hillary is qualified to be president.

Not directly related, but also interesting:

"American voters oppose by 52 - 45 percent laws allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions and oppose 63 - 34 percent allowing same-sex couples to marry."

-- Azi Paybarah

It was only after the midterm elections that the real campaigning began.

Below is a letter, dated November 15, from Charlie Rangel and Nita Lowey asking Nancy Pelosi to put Joe Crowley on the influential House Ways and Means Committee.

It's a position that provides access to business-minded constituents with lots of campaign cash to dole out to committee members. That's something, to judge by this recommendation, that's not lost on Rangel and Lowey.

"Joe has hosted events for candidates and Frontline Members in New York and contributed directly $275,000 to the DCCC and raised over $6.75 million in his role as Business Council Chair. Joe will continue to work in the 110th to support our Freshman and continue turning red seats blue."

The rest of the letter is over here [pdf].

-- Azi Paybarah

Charlie Rangel wants to bring back the draft.

The governor's appointee investigating the Alan Hevesi chauffeur scandal now has subpoena power.

Chauffeur scandals wouldn't happen if elected officialstook public transportation, like Mike Bloomberg.

Who's now worth about $20 billion.

Ben looks at Malcolm Smith's business practices.

Chris Smith wonders what's next for Chuck Schumer.

Next for Roberto Ramirez and other lobbyists who raised money for Eliot Spitzer: new offices in Albany.

The New Yorker looks at the effect of the Democratic victory on some of the White House's more aggressivemilitary options.

In between the pages of the New Yorker: a copy of Al Gore's movie.

Unlike Democrats, election results don't change Republicans, says Jonathan Chait in TNR [subscription]. "If Republicans win, it's because they were conservative. If they lose, it's because they weren't." That's not good, say the WSJ's editors [subscription].

Rudy Giuliani may get swift-boated by his New York City-based critics like Norm Siegel.

The Post looks at one of the friends of disgraced labor leader Brian McLaughlin.

Why did Nancy Pelosi get involved in the Murtha-Hoyer race for Majority Leader?

Time Magazine dispels six myths of the 2004 elections.

Newsweek looks at Bill and Hillary's battle plan in the wake of the midterm elections.

Howard Feinman looks at the divisions in the Democratic Party Nancy Pelosi has to manage.

And the Clintons' neighbor got shot.

-- Azi Paybarah

When soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her support for John Murtha’s bid for House M  read more »

While the post-election shoving and shuffling on Capitol Hill sounds dull, parochial and petty to th  read more »

When soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her support for John Murtha’s bid for Hou  read more »

It is really no surprise that John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi's favored candidate for House Majority leader, John Murtha, was thumped in this morning's vote by Maryland's Steny Hoyer.

What was surprising was how much political capital Pelosi, the incoming Speaker, had invested on Murtha's behalf in the last two days, considering the almost obvious futility of his effort from the outset.

The question now is whether there will be repercussions for Pelosi.

Had she simply announced her preference for Murtha and stood on the sidelines, Hoyer's win would mean nothing. But by turning up the heat on her fellow Democrats only to lose lopsidedly, Pelosi may have empowered Hoyer, her longtime foe. Should some similar impasse occur in the future - whether over a leadership position or an actual policy item - Hoyer may have considerably more standing in convincing members that it's okay to stick with him against the Speaker.

Pelosi has spent the last three years very effectively marginalizing Hoyer's clout. But before Pelosi entered the fray this week, it did not appear that Hoyer would be a particularly strong Majority Leader. That's probably no longer the case.

-- Steve Kornacki

A D.C. source emails to say, "Rahm wins caucus chair by acclamation."

Right now, Nancy Pelosi is giving a nominating speech on behalf of Jack Murtha, who is running against Steny Hoyer for House Majority Leader.

Results should start coming out in about an hour.

Predictions on who wins, and more importantly, who benefits/loses from the NY delegation?

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's one last take from Steve Kornacki on the upcoming, high-stakes House leadership vote:

Earlier this week, I wrote that Nancy Pelosi would suffer no real damage from today's vote for House Majority Leader.

That was then.

The House 230-some odd Democrats will convene in the Cannon Building this morning to choose between Steny Hoyer, the current second-ranking House Democrat and Pelosi's longtime foe, and John Murtha, who has the incoming Speaker's support.

Just a few days ago, this seemed like a simple little exercise. Hoyer would score a lay-up of a victory while Pelosi, recognizing the futility of the situation, would provide a nominal endorsement to her friend Murtha without lending any real muscle to his cause. In other words, she'd refrain from making Hoyer's - and the Democratic caucus's - life too difficult.  read more »

Like I said, that was then.

Chuck Todd thinks John McCain will save the GOP.

Whose fault is it that the Democrats didn't win the state Senate?

Kos wants to know what readers think about the leadership job being done by Howard Dean, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Rahm Emanuel.

Greg Sargent doesn't like the prevailing Joe Lieberman narrative.

An anonymous blogger wants to keep track of Eliot Spitzer's Day One plans for changing Albany.

Wonkster explains why the city likes charter schools, but isn't thrilled about the Julia Richman Educational Complex.

The AP has more on our item about Emily Pataki and the bar exam, rightly noting that both John F. Kennedy Jr. and Dennis Vacco failed on their first attempts too.

Welcome to Rich Azzopardi, the Senate Democrats' new press person.

And pictured above is Newsday'sDan Janison with a bottle of ale.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

It's freshman orientation week in Washington, when all the newly elected Representatives get to meet the party leaders and get intensive training on how to put a staff and congressional office together.

The freshman get to bring along one person -- a sort of chief-of-staff-in-training, to help out and learn the ropes. John Hall has tapped Darren Rigger, who he faced in a Democratic primary before going on to defeat Sue Kelly, as his orientation aide.

Rigger just told me that Hall hasn't officially hired anyone just yet but that he's "honored and flattered" to be a part of the orientation. "He's learning, I'm learning. We're learning how to staff your office, and then how you put together a transition team. People are stunned here when they find out we were in the primary."

But, according to Rigger, people are more stunned to see singer songwriter Hall "a celebrity -people recognize him from his music." Rigger said that Hall's only competition for star of the freshman class is Heath Schuler, a former quarterback for the Washington Redskins who was elected to represent a district in Western North Carolina.

"They are the ones that the staffers get excited about meeting," he said before cutting the call short. "Nancy Pelosi is coming to the room - cool."  read more »

--Jason Horowitz

Democrats want to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within months.

Nancy Pelosi is backing John Murtha for as majority leader.

Russ Feingold said he won't run for president, and never really wanted to.

Howard Wolfson gets profiled.

Stephen Minarik, the state Republican Party chairman, is stepping down and could be replaced by the chairman in Nassau County, Joseph Mondello.

Newsday says that Minarik has Joe Bruno's support.

Alan Hevesi may step down as state comptroller to avoid prosecution from the Albany District Attorney.

Bill Thompson is reportedly not interested in succeeding Hevesi, opting to stay on as city comptroller and possibly run for mayor in 2009.

Ben has the back story on the angry real estate scion who helped oust Rep. Sue Kelly.

And the Times offers some advice to the state's Republican Party.

"New York's G.O.P. should embrace the city's dynamic mayor as its guiding star."

-- Azi Paybarah

Even on a victorious team, there are still winners and losers.  read more »

It's 11:30 on the East Coast and we know that Nancy Pelosi will be the next Speaker of the House. That's about all we know. We don't yet know how many of her fellow Democrats will constitute the next House majority, nor do we have any clue whom they will select as their new Majority Leader-- Maryand's Steny Hoyer and Pennsylvania's John Murtha will now square off.

We also have no idea which party will control the Senate-- and with the Virginia race now on its way to a recount, it may be several days. The signs, though, point to a reduced Republican majority, with Democrats falling short in Tennessee and Virginia. However, if the Virginia outcome is reversed -- either in the very late returns (13 precincts from Democrat-rich Richmond have apparently not been counted yet) -- and if Democratis then run the table in Missouri and Montana, they'll have their magic six seats.

So for anyone still reading this, the best advise is to head to your living room, flip on MSNBC, keep your finger on the mute button when Chris Matthews comes on the screen, and have some fun watching the rest of the numbers trickle in.

-- Steve Kornacki

From last Friday's Roll Call (subscription required):

"Preparing for a potential Democratic victory on Election Day, House Democratic Caucus Chairman James Clyburn (S.C.) has begun rounding up support for a would-be bid for the Majority Whip's office."

The subtext to Clybrun's move is the question of what Rahm Emanuel, the architect of the House Democrats' campaign strategy, wants out of a Democratic takeover.

No one doubts that he'd like to move into a leadership post, but the politics of it are very tricky for him. Taking on Nancy Pelosi for Speaker would probably be suicidal, and a bid for Majority Leader against Steny Hoyer (the current Minority Whip) and John Murtha (who has announced his intention to run if the Democrats secure a majority) would be impractical.

But Majority Whip, the number three post on the majority side, could be a winnable race - and would position Emanuel very nicely for the future, since the 66-year-old Pelosi, 67-year-old Hoyer and 74-year-old Murtha are all on the back nine of their careers. Hence the pre-emptive maneuvering of Clyburn, who as Caucus Chairman is now the third-ranking House Democrat.

An Emanuel-Clyburn contest could get very ugly, very quickly, though. The 66-year-old Clyburn, a courtly South Carolinian, is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, a key 43-member component of the Democratic coalition whose leaders would almost assuredly demand - loudly - that Pelosi weigh in on Clyburn's behalf. And the would-be Speaker certainly doesn't want an intra-party bloodbath to serve as her new House majority's introduction to America.

-- Steve Kornacki

Matt Drudge has been looking for Nancy Pelosi all day.

"Where's Nancy?" has been the headline on his site. He's concerned, you see, because she's been in hiding.

Well, don't tell Philly! Today, we caught up with Nancy twice. She was last seen wearing a tasteful red, white and blue scarf, in Norristown, PA. She was engaged in the act of introducing Barack Obama to a crowd of 350 or so at the George Washington Carver Center.

Later this afternoon, Obama would get to return the favor, introducing her at their next get-out-the-vote campaign stop a few exits down the Turnpike.

She's okay, Matt! Don't call in Nancy Grace just yet.

-- Choire Sicha

For voters in next week's Congressional elections, their decision on Tuesday may be a referendum on 1) the Bush administration and Iraq, 2) the economy, 3) GOP's handling of Mark Foley or 4) the idea of Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel controlling one branch of government.

Few people, I presume, will cast their votes based on candidates' positions on the public financing of federal elections.

Common Cause NY is hoping that the issue public financing -- and the more general issue of governmental transparency -- is a growing concern, sending out word earlier today that while 18 Congressional candidates in New York have signed on to their Vote First pledge to support "full public financing of public elections," 44 have not.

It'll be worth noting after Tuesday if there are any consequences whatsoever for the candidates who didn't sign.

-- Azi Paybarah

Jason Horowitz talks to Rudy Giuliani on the road and finds him encouraged, 2008-wise, by polls and crowd reaction. Horowitz also catches America's Mayor motivating the audience at a (mostly) private Republican fund-raiser with scary stories about Nancy Pelosi.

Choire Sicha watches Hillary Clinton mingling with fancy-pants Connecticut donors and marching with statewide candidates on Columbus Day. He also went along on her trip with Eliot Spitzer to Long Island, where television cameras achieved a remarkable strobe effect by lighting up whenever she talked and going dark whenever Spitzer did.

Suzy Hansen reports on an academic-fueled media storm over NYU historian Tony Judt, who says that Jewish groups are interfering with his right to talk about Israel. Leon Wieseltier, among others, disagrees strongly.

Joe Conason says that Kim Jong Il's nukes are a product of the president's foreign policy failings.

Niall Stanage observes leaders in the New York Irish community congratulating themselves on the end of an era.

And this week, bonus Horowitz: he writes about the prosecutorial appetites of New Jersey's U.S. Attorney.

-- Josh Benson

Readers of the October issue of The Washington Monthly may have rubbed their eyes when they read the  read more »

Anyone else feel like Hugo Chavez is getting a bad rap?

Andrew Friedman of the Drum Major Institute comes to the defense of the Venezuelan leader, who was called "a barbarian" by Governor George Pataki and "a thug" by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"What, precisely, is thuggish or barbarian about him? Leftist politics or provocative rhetoric do not make a thug. A thug is a thief or a bully. And, in fact, it was the gentile upper class in Venezuela, Chavez's opponents and America's steadfast allies, that tried to steal the presidency from President Chavez by force."

-- Azi Paybarah

Representative William Jefferson (D., Mo.) has no hot money stashed in his office.  read more »

The Democratic leadership has its talking points on gas prices; they are part of a pattern of Republican corruption. On Meet the Press yesterday, Nancy Pelosi said,

On the Republican side, you have what The Washington Post called a "criminal enterprise" operating out of the Republican leader's office. You have corruption, cronyism and incompetence which has cost--has a cost to the American people. Whether again, price at the pump, of, of price at the pharmacy, or of Katrina. This is--has an impact on the American people. It's a part of a system.

This is truly misguided. The high gas prices are simply the laws of supply and demand. We are gas-addicted, and gas is a declining resource. Now is the time to save us from

Last January, after a tsunami ravaged the Indian subcontinent, U.S.  read more »

It kind of takes a lot to get a member of the House minority in trouble with his peers, but Brooklyn's Ed Towns seems to have pulled it off.

Roll Call reports that "Following two defections on key party votes by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met privately with Towns last week and threatened to pull his coveted Energy and Commerce Committee seat if he doesn't start proving devotion to the party.  read more »

"Sources said Pelosi, who has been increasingly tough on Democratic Caucus members who fail to show party unity, is furious that Towns missed a key Nov. 18 vote on the budget reconciliation measure and voted against the majority of Democrats in supporting the Central American Free Trade Agreement earlier this year."

"If it had teeth, it would bite you," my mother used to tell me when I couldn't find something that  read more »