Pelosi Urges Unity and Says She Will Work Toward Democratic Rebound

[ProSense]

Pelosi Urges Unity and Says She Will Work Toward Democratic Rebound

By DAVID HERSZENHORN

In a letter to colleagues, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who is seeking to remain as minority leader despite her party’s steep election losses, urged House Democrats to unite behind her and even said she hopes to help ousted lawmakers return to Congress in two years.

“While we are deeply affected personally and politically by the loss of excellent members of our caucus, nevertheless we hope those colleagues will continue the fight and rejoin us again in two years,” Ms. Pelosi wrote.

<...>

“I have been very gratified by the extensive and enthusiastic support I have received,” Ms. Pelosi wrote. “Many of our colleagues, from all areas of our diverse caucus, have been generous with their ideas and their support. I am grateful for the confidence that has been placed in me to be House Democratic leader.”

And she said the economy would be a top priority. “Foremost is the need to create jobs and promote the economic security of the American middle class,” she wrote. “In addition, we must build the capacity for effectively communicating our message of job creation and opportunity for all, while supporting our signature achievements of health care, Wall Street reform, and Social Security and Medicare.”

more

[ClarkUSA]

1. You go girl! I called her DC office on Friday to send her my full support.

[flamingdem]

4. +1 !

[tularetom]

2. I notice she isn't talking "compromise"

Unlike some other prominent Democrats, Nancy actually gets it.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Nancy understands things so much better than most!

I appreciate her very much.

[Midwestern Democrat]

5. I will respect the choice of the House Democratic Caucus, but I think

keeping Pelosi on as minority leader is a mistake. Tuesday night was an unmitigated disaster - we lost 64 House seats and were reduced to our smallest House caucus since 1948. The vulnerable Democrats who managed to survive have made it clear that they want a new leader - unless we want to be a coastal party that maxes out at around 160-170 House seats, I think it would be advisable to listen to these members' concerns and meet them halfway.

[ProSense]

6. Tuesday's losses had nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi being speaker

Not for Democrats. She has been Speaker since Democrats won in 2006 and through the gains in 2008.

Nancy Pelosi had a lot to do with helping the President to secure his policy triumphs.

Republicans hate her for that.



Edited for clarification.

[Greybnk48]

8. Exactly ProSense! Confusion led to the loss of Russ

Feingold, one of the only progressives to go down. The losses were mainly Blue Dogs, not progressives. Man I don't want to lose Pelosi. She is what we need right now.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Pelosi was demonized in '06 and '08. It did not work. 'It's the economy, stupid.'

And, President Obama did not make the case to the American people for the stimulus or 'Obamacare.' These would have been the times to have a prime time 'Oval Office' conversation to explain why both were absolutely necessary for our economic recovery and future deficits. I'd like to think President Obama has learned from his mistakes.

I also could not agree more with Frank Rich's latest article that President Obama needs to provide a 'coherent alternative of his own about how he intends to put Americans back to work and keep them in their homes.'

[ProSense]

10. Exactly, and

Reid won despite the predictions.

Mark Blumenthal: Not All Polls Were Wrong In Nevada

WASHINGTON -- In Nevada, polls predicted the wrong winner of this week's Senate election. Or did they? While public media polls in late October consistently gave a slight advantage to Republican Senate challenger Sharron Angle, the internal campaign polls gave Democrat Harry Reid the edge and campaign pollsters on both sides attribute the difference to a combination of greater care in modeling the demographics of the electorate, more persistence in reaching all sampled voters and the added value of registered voter lists.

With 99% of the precincts counted, the Associated Press reports that Reid defeated Angle by five percentage points (50% to 45%), but the public polls told a different story. In Nevada, we logged 15 publicly released surveys fielded in October, and all but two -- including all eight fielded in the last 20 days of the campaign -- gave Angle nominal advantages of between 1 and 4 percentage points. While none of the margins on any one poll was large enough to attain statistical significance, the consistency of the results demonstrates that Angle's advantages did not occur by chance alone. Our final "trend estimate" gave Angle a nearly three-point lead (48.8% to 46.0%) -- enough to classify the race as "lean Republican."

But the internal polls sponsored by the campaigns were telling their clients a different story. The final tracking polls conducted for the Reid campaign showed Reid leading narrowly throughout the fall campaign, according to Reid pollster Mark Mellman. Their final tracking poll, conducted during the final week of October, showed Reid leading by five percentage points. "There was really no point," Melman told me, "where Reid was actually behind in this race."

Gene Ulm, partner at the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies, confirms that their surveys for the Angle campaign showed a similar pattern. "We were typically tied in the low to mid 40s -- which as a rule are not good for any incumbent," Ulm said, while several days of tracking showed them "down by single digits."

<...>

Boehner and McConnell have a 14 percent and 12 percent approval rating, respectively

First order for Democrats, stop allowing Republicans and their media shills to continue vilifying Democratic leaders.

No one is calling for Boehner and McConnell to step down.

In 2007, both Reid and Pelosi had higher approvals than those idiots, and no one called for them to step down after they got their butts whipped in 2008.

[old mark]

7. Good. She's a great Democrat, despite how much people think she should

have prosecuted Bush...
That would have consumed most of the time and effort used in actually accomplishing what was accomplished, and would have been a total waste.



mark

[opihimoimoi]

11. Yup...+ 28475638.09...We need Nancy