Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's prospects for becoming the nation's first female House speaker depend not only on a Democratic victory in November but also on her ability to prevent any Democrats from voting against her -- primarily centrists opposed to her liberal stances.
At least one Democratic House candidate has pledged not to support Mrs. Pelosi, and others in conservative districts have refused to commit their support -- potentially leaving Mrs. Pelosi shy of the 218 votes required for the chamber's top post.
Democrat Charlie Stuart, who hopes to unseat Republican Rep. Ric Keller in Florida, already has said he opposes Mrs. Pelosi and would prefer Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the more conservative No. 2 Democrat in the House whose strained relations with Mrs. Pelosi have been well-chronicled on Capitol Hill.
"He's a centrist," Stuart spokeswoman Sultana Ali said of the Florida Democrat. "His values really are more in line with Steny Hoyer than Nancy Pelosi."
At least three other Democrats contacted by The Washington Times refused to commit their support to Mrs. Pelosi, whose San Francisco district is far more liberal than the districts that are up for grabs in this election.
I can't imagine that there could be enough ant-Pelosi votes to make a difference, unless Hoyer has been working behind the scenes to stir up scare stories about San Fran Nan. Certainly the Republicans are hoping that if they lose the House that she'll be the choice for Speaker, because two years of hearing her on the news every day could swing things back to the GOP in '08.
UPDATE: Some additional thoughts. I wonder how much of this is actual opposition to Pelosi, or perhaps a whisper campaign whose purpose it is to molify voters who are concerned about a Speaker Pelosi. Perhaps some people who would vote against Dems because of Pelosi might be pursuaded to vote for them if it appeared that she might not get the job. I don't normally traffic in conspiracy theories, but those thoughts did cross my mind.
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