White House already on a hunt to replace Souter

Pelosi will seek to stay as House Dem leader
Washington – Nancy Pelosi, the nation's first female House Speaker, said Friday she will try to keep her spot as Leader of the House Democrats despite huge election Losses that cost her Party the majority. Pelosi, a California liberal, rejected pressure from moderate House Democrats — and even some liberal allies — who said the widespread defeats cried out for new Party leadership. Pelosi, 70, will seek her colleagues' support to become House Minority Leader when the new Cong...

Nancy Pelosi Should Remain As Leader of the House Democratic Caucus
Burns Strider, Huffington Post: Speaker Pelosi today let it be known she would seek to remain as Leader of the House Democratic Caucus come the new Congress in January. I applaud this decision. Keeping Ms. Pelosi as House Democratic Caucus Leader is the smartest move members of that Caucus could make. Her tenacity speaks for itself. It’s a needed commodity to lead in Washington. But, there are also other, core reasons her leadership is needed more than ever. [...] Republicans pretty much...

Democratic Civil War Watch
I mentioned this in the Olbermann thread but it's worth highlighting...Pelosi is going to run for House Minority Leader. Despite the dyspepsia among some moderate House Democrats, outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always had first dibs on the position of Minority Leader, even if the branding of her as the legislative handmaiden of President Obama contributed to the party’s losing control of the House. House Democrats told National Journal all week that the job was Pelosi’s for the taking and th..

Pelosi May Hold On As Dem Minority Leader
New reports and a number of sources on Capitol Hill claim that current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is “seriously considering” making a run for Minority Leader.  This decision comes on the heels of what the President called a “shellacking” by Republicans in the U.S. House on Tuesday, an electoral nightmare for Democrats that have many questioning why Pelosi would want to keep her post as Congressional Party Leader. Pelosi is methodically calling every Democratic...

Ross another vote against Pelosi for minority leader
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) has added his name to the growing list of Democrats who say they will not support Nancy Pelosi in her bid to be Minority Leader. "I will not support or vote for Nancy Pelosi for House Democratic Leader or any other leadership position in the 112th Congress," Ross, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, said in a statement Friday. “I have always been committed to favoring Compromise and Bipartisanship over ideology and Party discipline. I have never answered to any party...

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis says he's supporting Pelosi as minority leader
Photo by Mike Maple Buy this photo » November 2, 2010 Steve Cohen celebrates his victory for the 9th Congressional Seat Tuesday night in downtown Memphis. Cohen defeated Republican opponent Charlotte Bergmann early on Tuesday evening by 70 percent. Bergmann called Cohen to concede. (The Commercial Appeal/Mike Maple) Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said today that he will back House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as House Minority Leader when Republica...

Follow the Leader
Two quick notes, one from each Party and one from each chamber: First, I recommend an excellent post by Matt Yglesias about the relative lack of importance of Mitch McConnell in the new scheme of things. The only thing that I'd add is that the press generally overrates the importance of Senate Party Leaders to begin with, so start with that, and combine with what Yglesias says about the partisan context, and there you have it. Second, over on the House side, almost nothing the Minority Party d...

Nancy Pelosi for Minority Leader!
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. THE Weekly Standard was already in good cheer after Tuesday’s Election. But then came the news at the end of the week, as the magazine went to press, that Nancy Pelosi has decided to try to retain her position as the top House Democrat, and will stand for House Minority Leader in January. Now there are those, of a churlish disposition, who would note that Speaker Pelosi has presided over the largest loss of House seats by a pa...

Pelosi To Run For House Minority Leader
Now hold on there: we haven't seen the last of Ms. Pelosi. Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will run for Minority Leader in the next Congress. “Driven by the urgency of protecting Health Care Reform, Wall Street Reform, and Social Security and Medicare, I have decided to run,” Pelosi said in a letter sent to Democrat Party congressmen Friday. Pelosi’s decision to run comes as a shock to many who thought she would resign after Tuesday’s “...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi to seek minority leader post
Rejecting demands that she relinquish power after her party's losses in the Midterm Elections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she will run for Minority Leader, potentially setting up an ideological battle inside the Democratic Caucus. This Story Speaker Nancy Pelosi to seek Minority Leader post Read Pelosi's letter announcing her candidacy Nancy Pelosi, undone by her own success Thousands of Democrats to be jobless in Washington Van Hollen steps down as Dem campaign chief Vi...

Celebration day: Pelosi running for minority leader
We didn’t get to spray the champagne on Tuesday because, after all, the results weren’t about us. As everyone from Mitch McConnell and John Boehner on down recognizes, the election was, in P.J. O’Rourke’s words, a “Restraining Order” on the Democrats, not a vote of confidence in the GOP. No corks a-poppin’ under those circumstances, no matter how pleased we might have been with the outcome. Today, though? Poppin’. House Republicans expressed jubi...

Team Pelosi
House Dems begin to reveal their intentions re her run for Leader. Washington, D.C. - Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the Dean of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation, today issued the following statement in response to the announcement by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she intends to run for House Minority Leader in the next Congress: “I welcome Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that she intends to stay and I intend to vote for her when the House Democratic Caucus elects its leadersh...

Heath Shuler Would Challenge Pelosi For House Minority Leader Post
Nancy Pelosi's demotion from Speaker of the House could end up being a few more steps down if Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) has his way, as reports now suggest that the Blue Dog Democrat will challenge her for the House Minority Leader position. "If there's not a viable alternative [to Pelosi] -- like I said all along -- I can go recruit moderate Members to run in Swing Districts," Shuler said on Thursday. "In that situation, I could do it better than she could, and that's what it's going to take...

Pelosi and Clyburn --- now we're talking
Now We're Talking by digby Pelosi staying as Minority Leader is terrific of course, for many reasons. But the symbolic "fuck you" to the Wingnut creeps of both parties who ran against her and her long-haired, World Series winning, San Francisco liberal ways is awesome. But this is beyond my grandest hopes. Dday reports: Could Nancy Pelosi’s decision to return as Minority Leader of the Democratic Caucus end up squeezing Steny Hoyer out of the leadership entirely? It looks possible. Hoyer may...

Pelosi or not Pelosi? That is the question for House Democrats
Nancy Pelosi — the first woman Speaker of the House — is soon to become the first woman ex-Speaker of the House. But the trouncing of  House Democrats in Tuesday’s Elections, which flipped control of that chamber to Republicans, has not deterred Pelosi from wanting to hang onto the leadership reins. She announced on Twitter and in a letter to her colleagues that she will run for House Minority Leader in the new Congress. It’s a position she held before...

Burns Strider: Nancy Pelosi Should Remain As Leader of the House Democratic Caucus
Speaker Pelosi today let it be known she would seek to remain as Leader of the House Democratic Caucus come the new Congress in January. I applaud this decision. Keeping Ms. Pelosi as House Democratic Caucus Leader is the smartest move members of that Caucus could make. Her tenacity speaks for itself. It's a needed commodity to lead in Washington. But, there are also other, core reasons her leadership is needed more than ever. Republicans pretty much say it all. Why would they spend millions a...

Inside The Bruising Democratic Leadership Fight: Pelosi Moves To Box Out Hoyer
Here's what we know about the brewing House Democratic Leadership struggle, and how the situation emerged. The short version is this: By losing the Speakership, Democrats lose a Leadership position. If the hope is to transition the current Leadership team over into the Minority, somebody's gotta go. Nancy Pelosi's apparently angling for that person to be current Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). At a long meeting between Pelosi and Hoyer after the election, Hoyer and Pelosi discussed the is...

Nancy Pelosi Will Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images In her first interview after a historic drubbing on Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi told ABC News's Diane Sawyer on the topic of whether she would try to remain the Leader of the Democratic Party in the House or step down, "I'll have a conversation with my Caucus, I'll have a conversation with my family, and pray over it, and decide how to go forward." While that's about as vague is it comes, Pelosi was pretty widely expected to step aside from the leadership post, and...

Pelosi's Path Back to Leadership
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can credit the drubbing House Democrats received for putting her in a strong position to keep her leadership post. Democrats lost 36 of the 48 members who represent Districts that John McCain carried in 2008, wiping out much of the party's moderate wing that would be most resistant to Pelosi's return to power. Instead, the new House Democratic conference is now disproportionately filled with Liberals representing safe districts, who have always been her natural base o...

Breaking: Shuler Says He'd Challenge Pelosi for Minority Leader
Rep. Heath Shuler (D., N.C.) to Roll Call: Rep. Heath Shuler predicted Thursday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi would act in the “best interest” of the Democratic Caucus and bow out of leadership, but said he would challenge the California Democrat for Minority Leader if she tried to stay on and no “viable alternative” Candidate emerged....

Pelosi Stays; Hoyer & Clyburn Battle for Whip
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will run for Minority Leader in a statement today. It had been widely expected that Pelosi, 70, would retire. But, after she spent much of the last two days calling virtually every member of her shrunken Caucus, she said she came to the conclusion that her "work is far from finished." From her statement: As a result of Tuesday's election, the role of Democrats in the 112th Congress will change, but our commitment to serving the American People will not.&#...

Shuler Now Says He'll Run Against Pelosi For Minority Leader
Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasn't announced whether she'll retire, continue to serve in Congress, or even seek a leadership role in the next Congress, but already one of the House's most conservative members is trying to undercut her. Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), who dodged the shellacking on Tuesday, says if Pelosi makes a play to be Minority Leader, he'll run against her. "If there's not a viable alternative -- like I said all along -- I can go recruit moderate Members to run in Swing Districts," Shu...

'Panicky, Absurd, Knee-jerk'
Not so fast! says TPM Reader CS: Regarding reader EA's assertion that Democrats need to throw Pelosi, Clyburn, and the other current leaders overboard in favor of conservative new "young guns" -- that's nuts. It's a panicky, absurd, knee-jerk reaction. Do the Democrats really want to signal that when adversity strikes, they'll abandon their leaders and throw them overboard in a panic? It's not like Pelosi was ineffective as Speaker. If it weren't for her, Obama probably wouldn't have Health in...

'Panicky, Absurd, Knee-jerk'
Not so fast! says TPM Reader CS: Regarding reader EA's assertion that Democrats need to throw Pelosi, Clyburn, and the other current leaders overboard in favor of conservative new "young guns" -- that's nuts. It's a panicky, absurd, knee-jerk reaction. Do the Democrats really want to signal that when adversity strikes, they'll abandon their leaders and throw them overboard in a panic? It's not like Pelosi was ineffective as Speaker. If it weren't for her, Obama probably wouldn't have Health in...

A plain blog about politics: Dogs, Not Barking
An occasional item about items that have not been in the news -- which is, therefore, newsworthy. 1. I've seen some outsider speculation about what Nancy Pelosi would do if the Democrats lose the House, but so far I don't think I've seen any actual whispers against her that seem to come from inside her Caucus. As far as I can tell, she can have Minority Leader if she wants it (and my guess is that she will, especially if modest gains in 2012 would put her back in the big chair). 2. Crime bill. ...