The key contenders are California Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer. While Pelosi’s supporters are pressing for an early vote, Hoyer backers seem in no hurry to bring the contest to a close.
An election that pits one member of Congress against another traditionally combines the intrigue of the Kremlin with the popularity antics of a race for student council president. Pelosi has gotten 90 of her colleagues to sign a letter supporting her; Hoyer has 71 signatures. There are 210 Democrats; it takes 108 to win.
Pelosi first announced her candidacy in the summer of 1999. Some Democrats thought her timing presumptuous, to which Pelosi replied: “In order to buck 200 years of history, if I have to start earlier than someone else, so be it.”
Pelosi has been in Congress since 1987, but remains something of an outsider-if only because of her gender. Democratic leaders fight for affirmative action, but they rarely apply their prescriptive words for the country to themselves. For a party that relies on female votes to remain in office, the elected women in the House are relegated to crumbs when it comes to power. A liberal who represents San Francisco, Pelosi is highly regarded by her colleagues for her organizational verve and her fund-raising prowess. “One reason I want to run for whip is to show that a woman can get on the ladder,” she says. “I hope I win. I don’t know if I will. But at least I can fight on the battlefield, which has not happened before.”
Democratic insiders prefer Hoyer, a veteran congressman seen as more of a known quantity. He has held a variety of appointed positions in the House leadership and is a favorite of Gephardt’s. The buzz on Capitol Hill is that for those who consider Pelosi too liberal, Steny’s the man. The truth is that both candidates’ voting records are almost identical, but Pelosi is much more outspoken on the liberal side when it comes to opposing free trade with China and battling AIDS.
If the election were held today, Pelosi would win. What concerns her supporters is Gephardt’s seeming reluctance to set a date. The longer he takes, the more time Hoyer has to peel away votes from Pelosi. “This is an insider’s game,” says a Democratic lawmaker, who explains that Hoyer is better positioned because of his seniority and his status within the “boys’ club” to win over the ranking Democrats on the committees and subcommittees. They, in turn, can then influence other members.
Pelosi’s people point to various party plums that Gephardt has awarded to Hoyer as evidence of the boys’ club bias. Pelosi has one ace card in this institutional one-upmanship: the strong support of Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, her campaign manager and closest adviser. Congressional sources say that Murtha has intervened with Gephardt to level the playing field and to set the rules of engagement. “If it hadn’t been for Murtha, Nancy wouldn’t have a chance against the institution,” says a Pelosi backer. What makes the incident remarkable is that Murtha as much as anybody qualifies as the old guard, yet he has taken on the role of watchdog in the race.
If Pelosi is to win, she needs more Murthas on her side. She has resisted employing the gender card. Everybody on Capitol Hill understands the stakes and what the outcome of this race says about the Democratic Party’s ability to live up to its rhetoric. Women’s groups are poised to bring outside pressure on members, but Pelosi-fearing a backlash-has so far refused their offers. The job she wants is an insider’s job, and if she gets it, she wants people to say she won because she’s an insider who knows how to play the game.
O’CONNOR TO STAY
Rumors of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement proved unfounded, and that’s no accident. A friend says O’Connor was humiliated by reports that at an election-night party last year she voiced disgust at an early, televised prediction of Al Gore’s victory. The same reports said that her husband explained to party guests who overheard the justice’s exclamations of horror that a Gore presidency would preclude O’Connor’s retirement because, as a Republican, she would want a Republican president to replace her. Now, says the friend, O’Connor wouldn’t want her retirement tainted by such partisan political sentiment. With her reputation in the history books at stake, she has decided to stay on the high court for the foreseeable future. By staying, she becomes a possible candidate for chief justice in the event that current Chief Justice William Rehnquist retires. Here, too, O’Connor is sensitive. “She doesn’t want to be seen as his rival,” says the friend. O’Connor and Rehnquist were classmates at Stanford Law School and even dated for a time-though O’Connor likes to remind people she is several years younger.
FAST-TRACKED TRADE?
Pro-trade Democrats are urging President Bush to get more involved in promoting the benefits of free trade if he wants Congress to give him so-called fast-track trade authority. Congress denied President Clinton this power to negotiate trade pacts without Congress’ approval, and the votes could go either way for Bush. California Democrat Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a free-trade advocate, told Bush that he needed to put a human face on the legislation and explain to Americans why it is important. After Tauscher made her plea, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick wrote a note and passed it to Tauscher. “Thank you,” it said. “This is what he needs to hear.”
