Pelosi to run for Minority leader.

[Skink]

Huffington Post



WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will make a bid to be Democratic minority leader, she announced Friday via Twitter. "Driven by the urgency of creating jobs & protecting #hcr, #wsr, Social Security & Medicare, I am running for Dem Leader," she tweeted.

Pelosi has a broad base of support and her deputy, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), saw much of his base of conservative Democrats wiped out on Tuesday. Hoyer has said previously that he would not challenge Pelosi if she decided to stay. For weeks, the national media have assumed, without evidence, that Pelosi would step down if Democrats lost the House.

Hoyer, Pelosi's second in command, will not challenge Pelosi for the top job but is considering a bid for minority whip. That clears the field for Pelosi, making her the presumptive minority leader.

"Hoyer has received a lot of support from members over the past several days urging him to stay as a part of leadership. He'll spend the next couple of days talking to members and getting their thoughts on him being minority whip," Hoyer spokeswoman Katie Grant told HuffPost.

If he decides to run, he'll face a challenge from the current number-three Democrat, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, who is the majority whip. Clyburn declared his intention to run for the number two spot in a letter to Democratic colleagues Friday. Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) announced bids for the three and four spots, positions they currently hold, and have yet to be challenged.

Before she announced her bid, Democratic activists had begun a public campaign to persuade Pelosi, arguably the most progressive speaker in House history, to stay, with Americans United for Change thanking her for what she accomplished at thankyouspeakerpelosi.com. They have an ally in the House GOP, which also says it would like her to stay, but for the opposite reason. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. Of course, if House Democrats are willing to sacrifice more of their members in 2012 for the glory of Nancy Pelosi, we are happy to oblige them," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the campaign arm of House Republicans.

Conservative Democrat Dan Boren of Oklahoma and Rep. Albio Sires of New Jersey, a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's leadership, announced publicly they would not support Pelosi for leader. DailyKos, meanwhile, is gathering support for a bid by Pelosi to remain Democratic leader. It is only the third petition the site has ever done.

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[somone]

1. Good for her

[onehandle]

2. Nancy was the most effective Speakers in decades...

And will be again.

[tabasco]

3. I hope they pick someone better.

It's time for leadership, not waffling.