WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who is No. 2 in her party's House leadership, moved one step closer Friday to becoming the first woman to lead a party in the U.S. House.
Pelosi achieved front-runner status when Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, dropped out of the race to succeed retiring House Democrat Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., who stepped aside Thursday following the party's disastrous performance in the mid-term elections this week. Frost said he was withdrawing from the race because, according to his calculations, Pelosi had enough support to assure her election to the post when the Democratic caucus vote on Nov.14.
"At the close of business yesterday, I had over 105 commitments, public commitments, from my colleagues to vote for me for House Democratic leader," Pelosi told reporters Friday. "In addition to that, I had a large number of private commitments that gave me a huge majority of the House Democrats." There are 208 Democrats in the House.
"It's all about the economy," she said, promising to work to develop a clear message for the Democrats.
Responding to the suggestion that she was an outspoken liberal, a "San Francisco Democrat," Pelosi said: "I don't think they chose me as an outspoken liberal, as you say. I think they chose me as a person who can lead the caucus to victory, as a person who can build coalitions among the various sectors of our caucus, a person who respects the differing points of view within our caucus."
Pelosi's only opponent for the post is Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., the Tennessee Democrat who first burst on the national scene when he gave the keynote address at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Ford entered the race Friday just as Frost was getting out.
At a Capitol Hill press conference Friday, Ford presented himself as the candidate of change.
"I've offered my candidacy because, frankly, it's the only true change that's in this race," he told reporters, hinting that Pelosi would come across as an obstructionist promoting legislative gridlock. The party's election defeat ought to be interpreted as an urgent signal of the need for a new face, he said.
"The problem we face now is I don't know if the American people are willing to entrust Democrats in the House and, one could even argue, the Senate, with the steering wheel or with the helm."
Sources on Capitol Hill say that Ford, who would be the candidate most likely to draw the support of southern and moderate Democrats, is hampered by his late entry into the race. One source familiar with Ford's thinking says that he is, nevertheless, "in the race, running hard and intending to win."
Outside the House fight, observers expect more turnover among Democratic operatives -- including the heads of the campaign committees for the House and Senate -- but it remains unclear if the public faces of these committees will be forced to step down.
