| Congratulations. Enjoy leading the minority party even further from the levers of power. |
| The gift that keeps on giving... |
San Fran NanPelosi
Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace...
(Calif.) on Wednesday won the race to lead the Democratic caucus for an eighth term, prevailing in a contest that became a vote of confidence in her continued stewardship and an early proxy battle over the future of the Democratic Party.
Pelosi easily toppled Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a seven-term politician who launched an upstart bid to lead House Democrats two weeks ago in response to the party’s disappointing November election results.
After 14 undistinguished years in Congress, Ryan emerged from the backbench -- he literally sits on the last bench in the chamber -- as a vessel of discontent and forced Pelosi to fight for the top spot like never before. It’s prompted her to offer structural changes to leadership and more opportunity to the burgeoning crop of junior politicians who have never served in the majority.
Pelosi vowed to expand the number of seats at the leadership table to stave off defections and leave her firmly in charge of a caucus ruled by an "iron fist," as Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) once described her leadership style.
There are 194 members of the House Democratic caucus, and four nonvoting delegates are allowed to vote in caucus elections. On Wednesday, 197 of the 198 members showed up. Pelosi won with 134 votes, compared with 63 votes for Ryan in a secret-ballot election held in the committee room of the House Boodle Central.