Pelosi Move Says Democrats Intend To Fight the GOP, Not Cut Deals

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aim to remain the leader of House Democrats is an indication the party is ready to go to war with Republicans in the next Congress, not cut deals across the aisle.

The California Democrat is a radioactive figure in many districts across the country, where Republicans parlayed her unpopularity to pick up seats in Tuesday's landslide elections. But she's also a master at energizing the Democratic base, and her liberal resolve, some Democrats say, will draw much sharper distinctions between the two parties than that of more conservative members who might otherwise assume the leadership spot.

"The lesson [of the elections] is not to back down from a fight," Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. "The lesson learned is we need to fight harder for real, fundamental change for the middle-class. And no one fights harder than Nancy Pelosi."

Put another way: "She's in a better position to throw the bombs back at Republicans," a former House Democratic aide said tersely. "I mean, who's the better person to make John Boehner look crazy? It's Pelosi."

Before Friday's surprise announcement that Pelosi will run for minority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, the current No. 2, was widely seen as heir apparent to head the party. The Maryland Democrat is known, in the words of one Democratic strategist, as "a dealmaker, a tactician" — someone who "makes the trains run on time."

But making deals with the newly empowered Republicans isn't high on the priority list of liberal Democrats, who suddenly find themselves with a much louder voice following Tuesday's decimation of the conservative-leaning Blue Dogs, who tended to gravitate toward Hoyer.

Pelosi — a master vote-counter — and her liberal allies spent the latter part of the week taking the temperature of the Democratic caucus on questions of leadership. Her decision to throw her name into the ring is indication enough that the responses were favorable.

It's also a signal that many Democrats consider Tuesday's midterm drubbing to be unrelated either to the controversial Speaker or the major legislative victories she won in recent years, including passage of healthcare and Wall Street reform.
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