Pelosi set to lead Democrats out of the desert

updated 1:59 a.m. ET Nov. 8, 2006

WASHINGTON - Rep. Nancy Pelosi dashes off declarations about what she would do with a Democratic majority in the House with the ease of someone ordering a latte at Starbucks.

The woman expected to become the nation’s first Madam Speaker promises a barrage of “discrete deliverables” in the first 100 work hours after the Democrats take control:

• Boost the minimum wage? The only question is how high, how fast.
• Fiscal discipline? “Remove all doubt. Pay as you go.”
• Research on new embryonic stem cells? Scrap the ban on federal funding.
• Problematic prescription drug coverage for seniors? “We can do something about that.”
• 9-11 commission recommendations? Approved on Day One.

The list goes on and on of things she’d get passed by the House and battle to make law.

All this from fractious House members, and within only their first 100 hours in session?

“Well, I would do them all on the first day, but I know they have friends and relatives in town and they want to celebrate,” Pelosi says with a playful grin.

Anticipating her party’s new majority status, Pelosi struck a confident and conciliatory tone Tuesday night: “Democrats are ready to lead. We are prepared to govern. And we will do so working together with the administration and Republicans in Congress in partnership, not partisanship.”

Pelosi, 66, made history four years ago when she became the first woman to lead a party caucus in either house of Congress, piercing what she calls a “marble ceiling” in the Capitol that’s even harder to break than the proverbial glass ceiling encountered by many women.

Twice in the past, Pelosi had presented Republican Dennis Hastert with the speaker’s gavel as the GOP extended its control of the House for two more years. “This is getting tiresome, Mr. Speaker,” she said last time.

Decision 2006 multimedia Getty Images   Slide show: Election Voters head to the polls in elections that could shift control of Congress and the Senate.

Then, she did her darndest to make sure it didn’t happen again, organizing difficult-to-corral Democrats into a united front against President Bush and congressional Republicans, campaigning tirelessly for members of her own party and raising campaign cash for them by the boatload.

'Bring us out of the desert'
Pelosi, a liberal who represents one of the nation’s most liberal congressional districts, presides over a Democratic caucus in which members voted with their party 88 percent of the time in 2005, one of the most cohesive records in decades, according to an analysis by Congressional Quarterly.

She raised $59 million for House candidates this election cycle and more than $100 million since she was elected Democratic leader.

No one has worked harder “to bring us out of the desert,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, a fellow Democrat from California and longtime friend. “This woman is a human tornado.”

Pelosi, the daughter and sister of Baltimore mayors, grew up immersed in politics and moved west in her 20s when her investment banker husband wanted to return to his roots. She managed to work herself into California’s Democratic political structure while raising five children who were born over six years.

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