Article: Pelosi for President?

Nancy Pelosi's positive poll ratings have more than doubled recently. She is now, probably, the most visible Democrat in America and there is every likelihood that this media attention will actually increase, probably dramatically. The idea of the most powerful woman America has ever seen sets people wanting to see more of her.

It is likely that as Nancy Pelosi becomes more and more visible, she will become more and more of both a darling to some and a target to others. That's the way things tend to work in Washington. Perhaps it is no accident that she emphasized her roots in and connection to Baltimore. This makes her appear less patrician San Francisco liberal and more bi-coastal Catholic, Paisano Baltimorean.

Will her popularity keep rising? It seems likely. In the past month the mainstream media went after her hard. They used female anchors and telejournalists to attack her, calling her emotional, alluding to feminine hysterics... and it didn't work. Her popularity went from the low twenty percentile to the mid forties. Now that she's gotten off to such a good start, surrounded by kids, standing up to Bush... there's a great likelihood her poll figures will continue to climb... higher than Hillary's. And people will start to wonder. Will this San Francisco liberal, already powerful, already showing she can do the job as a Democratic leader, enter the sphere of those Democrats the media speculates could be candidates for the '08 presidency?

Of course, this article answers that question from a web media perspective. But, will the mainstream media start asking the question? Will right wing talk radio start attacking her as a presidential candidate, like they have done to Hillary, when they see that her popularity is gaining her traction?

It doesn't matter whether Nancy denies having any interest in running. That hasn't failed to stop speculation in the past. And if pollsters start including her in the mix-- start looking at how she stands up against Hillary, Obama, Biden, Gore, Kucinich, etcetera, or even better, if they start matching her up against the Republican likelies-- McCain, Giuliani, Romney, Hagel-- and she fares well, then it might just be a whole new ballgame.

Those are a lot of 'ifs.' It's hard to imagine Pelosi faring very well in the red south, but it may be that no Democrat will do well there. That may not be the way that Dems win in 2008.

Of course, there's the other way Nancy could become Presiden Pelosi-- if Cheney and Bush both resign or are impeached. Most likely, as the subpoena mill starts heating up, as it soon will, Cheney will develop some health problem that allows him to resign. Then, if Bush is impeached or is forced to resign, probably by Republicans trying to save the Republican party from total self destruction, that would make Nancy Pelosi the next president. And again, we could find ourselves being asked-- by the media and by others-- Should Nancy Pelosi run for president? Being already in the whitehouse could give her an incredible advantage, especially if she just does a few smart things so they actually work-- a welcome change from the idiocracy that has ruled Washington these last six years.

So, we have to different paths that could easily create a set of circumstances in which Nancy Pelosi becomes identified as a potential candidate.

I don' think that's such a bad thing. It will cast a different light on Hillary, on Obama, on John Edwards, on Al Gore... and the other already declared or soon to declare long odds candidates.

We'll be learning a lot about Nancy Pelosi in the coming months. We'll see how she performs, if she gets things done. Who knows? She may prove to be an amazing leader. And that would be a good thing for America.