Speaker of the House Pelosi makes history

updated 6:51 p.m. ET Jan. 4, 2007

WASHINGTON - It’s a glass ceiling no one else has even cracked, and Nancy Pelosi crashed through it Thursday, elected the nation’s first-ever female House speaker.

“I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship, and look forward to working with you on behalf of the American people,” Pelosi said in a speech to colleagues and the nation. “In this House, we may belong to different parties, but we serve one country.”

The 66-year-old San Francisco Democrat beamed and clapped as she heard the voice vote catapulting her to the House’s top post. She was surrounded on the House floor by her six grandchildren, including Paul Michael Vos, born to her daughter Alexandra in early November.

After her election by a vote of 233-202, Pelosi stood holding the sleeping infant — who did not stir — and shook hands as she accepted congratulations from her fellow House members.

“Today I thank my colleagues. By electing me as speaker you have brought us closer to the ideal of equality that is America’s heritage and America’s hope,” Pelosi said. “This is an historic moment — for the Congress, and for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights.”

Pelosi had entered the chamber to prolonged cheers from fellow House members and the packed visitors’ galleries, where onlookers included actor Richard Gere and singer Tony Bennett, crooner of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

As the roll was called to seal her election and one Democrat after another shouted out her name, Pelosi sat smiling broadly, holding one grandchild and then another.

'Broken the marble ceiling'
“For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling,” she said. “For our daughters and our granddaughters now, the sky is the limit.”

Pelosi began her history-making day running into anti-abortion demonstrators as she went to a prayer service with her husband, Paul, and a daughter at St. Peter’s Catholic Church near the Capitol.

“You can’t be Catholic and pro-abortion,” read one placard. Pelosi and her entourage walked past the small group of protesters without saying anything.

Attending the service with her were Republican leaders that her party put into the minority in the November election: new Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.

Also there were new House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a one-time Pelosi rival elected by House Democrats to be her No. 2 over her protests, and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean.

She also attended a ceremonial swearing-in of the Congressional Black Caucus, where the incoming leader of the 42-member group, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., made clear that they intended to have a voice in the new Congress. “She must deliver, because black people delivered that we might have this majority,” Kilpatrick said of Pelosi.

The House convened at midday with Democrats rejoicing over taking control of Congress after 12 years in the minority.

Coming-out events
But the spotlight belonged to Pelosi, and she was making the most of it with a whirlwind of festivities from the lavish to the sentimental. The week was her coming-out to the nation, and she was aiming to introduce herself not just as the San Francisco liberal decried by Republicans, but also as an Italian-American Catholic, mother of five and native of gritty Baltimore, where her father was mayor.

“We look forward to the rest of the country appreciating the real San Francisco values, of diversity and a city of dreamers, “San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said after attending a brunch in her honor. “You can only exploit the gay community so much ... They’re going to see there’s so much more to San Francisco.”

Throughout, the symbolism of Pelosi’s triumph for women was center stage.

Outside a brunch Thursday at the Library of Congress, leaders from the National Organization for Women greeted her with a giant congratulation card. The message: Way to Go!

“This is a historic moment for women everywhere,” said NOW President Kim Gandy.

Thursday evening, Pelosi was being feted at a $1,000-a-head concert hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at the National Building Museum with performances expected from Carole King, Bennett, Wyclef Jean and others.

Pelosi attended Mass Wednesday at Trinity University, where she’s an alumnus, and dined that night at the Italian embassy.

Friday begins with an open house event across from the Capitol. Then she heads to Baltimore, where the street where she grew up in Little Italy is being dedicated in her honor: Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi Via.

Pelosi was raised there, the daughter of New Deal Maryland congressman Thomas D’Alesandro, who later became the city’s mayor. She didn’t run for the House herself until 1987 after marrying wealthy businessman Paul Pelosi, moving to San Francisco and raising her children.

In Congress Pelosi displayed the tough politicking of her childhood environment. She wrung loyalties, counted votes and muscled aside Hoyer to become Democrats’ second-in-command, and then Democratic leader in 2002.

Personal loyalty is key to Pelosi. She tried to block Hoyer’s bid in November to become Democratic majority leader, suffering an embarrassing defeat when her preferred candidate, Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, lost badly.

Pelosi wins re-election by huge margins and stays true to her San Francisco constituency, voting against the Iraq war resolution and co-sponsoring legislation to end federal prohibitions against medical marijuana. Her liberalism makes some moderate Democrats leery, and she’s avoided campaigning in some conservative districts.

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