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Nancy Pelosi First Woman to Lead Political Party in Congress
Aired November 14, 2002 - 13:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Nancy Pelosi will be the first woman to lead a political party in Congress. House Democrats chose Pelosi today to be the minority leader. She replaced Richard Gephardt, who announced he will step down falling Democratic losses in the midterm elections.
Our congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl live on Capitol Hill.
Jonathan, a lot of Republicans would say you couldn't go more left than this. What are the Democrats thinking here?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She does represent San Francisco, perhaps one of most liberal districts to be represented here in the Congress.
But Nancy Pelosi made history today by winning that election. She is the first woman to lead either party in the history of Congress. There you see her coming out with her new team. As a matter of fact, she joked that she'd been waiting 200 years for this, because in the 213 years of this place, she's never been a woman to lead one of major parties.
Now, in making her statement, Nancy Pelosi came out, and she said that she is going to support the president when she can, but she's clearly going to draw those distinctions when she needs too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: We stand shoulder to shoulder with the president and in the support our young men and women in uniform and in the fight against terrorism. Where we can find our common ground on the economy and on other domestic issues, we shall seek it. We have that responsibility to the American people. Where we cannot find that common ground, we must stand our ground. The American people need us to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: So who is Nancy Pelosi? She comes from the most political of political parties. Her father was a legendary mayor of Baltimore and also a Congressman of Maryland, and her brother was also a mayor of Baltimore. She has five children, five grandchildren. She graduated, as you see, from Trinity College in D.C. in 1962.
She's also been a major player up here even before this election, the senior Democratic, the vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also a senior member, not the most senior member, but the senior member of House Appropriations Committee, and she is one of those that voted against the resolution authorizing the use of force with Iraq, at that point, aligning herself with the left of her party.
Because if you remember, Dick Gephardt and some of other House Democratic leaders voted in favor of that resolution, supporting the president on Iraq.
So you mentioned the Republicans, Republicans are welcoming this. Republicans think this is a chance for them to draw the distinctions between themselves and the Democrats.
Also, we have Bob Menendez, also a little bit of history. He became the chairman of the Democratic caucus, the number three position in the House. There you see him, Bob Menendez making history, because he is the highest-ranking, we are told, Hispanic in leadership in the history of Congress. Bob Menendez, a young, rising star for the Democrats, clearly make a big move there. He actually won that race, by the way, by only one vote. He got that position by only one vote, a very close leadership race there among the Democrats -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Not often the Republicans supported a Democratic pick. But let me ask you this, does this suggest the Democratic Party is taking a new strategy, and that strategy is to go left?
KARL: Well, clearly Nancy Pelosi would say no to that question. Some can argue that. What you have to understand about Nancy Pelosi is not only is who represents a very liberal district, who has liberal views, this is somebody who actually opposed Bill Clinton on the issue of welfare reform, thinking that went too far to the right. So she always been on the left of her party, but she also have been a very strong party strategist, one of the top fund-raisers in the Democratic Party, and she was chosen not necessarily simply because of the direction she would take the party, but because she is somebody who has paid her dues and somebody who has proven herself as a Democratic strategists.
So it's unclear whether or not this is really going to be a turn to the left. Nancy Pelosi says that she is not going to be simply representing her district anymore. She is the leader of her party. She'll be acting as such.
As a matter of fact, you may have noticed last night, she voted in favor of the creation of the Homeland Security Department, even as many Democrats voted against it, because they were unhappy with the labor provisions. But Nancy Pelosi had previously voted against it, but now as the upcoming leader of her party, she supported it. That may be a tip of hat to the moderates in her party.
SAVIDGE: Maybe. Jonathan Karl, covering live history on the Hill, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Congress>
Aired November 14, 2002 - 13:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Nancy Pelosi will be the first woman to lead a political party in Congress. House Democrats chose Pelosi today to be the minority leader. She replaced Richard Gephardt, who announced he will step down falling Democratic losses in the midterm elections.
Our congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl live on Capitol Hill.
Jonathan, a lot of Republicans would say you couldn't go more left than this. What are the Democrats thinking here?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She does represent San Francisco, perhaps one of most liberal districts to be represented here in the Congress.
But Nancy Pelosi made history today by winning that election. She is the first woman to lead either party in the history of Congress. There you see her coming out with her new team. As a matter of fact, she joked that she'd been waiting 200 years for this, because in the 213 years of this place, she's never been a woman to lead one of major parties.
Now, in making her statement, Nancy Pelosi came out, and she said that she is going to support the president when she can, but she's clearly going to draw those distinctions when she needs too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: We stand shoulder to shoulder with the president and in the support our young men and women in uniform and in the fight against terrorism. Where we can find our common ground on the economy and on other domestic issues, we shall seek it. We have that responsibility to the American people. Where we cannot find that common ground, we must stand our ground. The American people need us to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: So who is Nancy Pelosi? She comes from the most political of political parties. Her father was a legendary mayor of Baltimore and also a Congressman of Maryland, and her brother was also a mayor of Baltimore. She has five children, five grandchildren. She graduated, as you see, from Trinity College in D.C. in 1962.
She's also been a major player up here even before this election, the senior Democratic, the vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also a senior member, not the most senior member, but the senior member of House Appropriations Committee, and she is one of those that voted against the resolution authorizing the use of force with Iraq, at that point, aligning herself with the left of her party.
Because if you remember, Dick Gephardt and some of other House Democratic leaders voted in favor of that resolution, supporting the president on Iraq.
So you mentioned the Republicans, Republicans are welcoming this. Republicans think this is a chance for them to draw the distinctions between themselves and the Democrats.
Also, we have Bob Menendez, also a little bit of history. He became the chairman of the Democratic caucus, the number three position in the House. There you see him, Bob Menendez making history, because he is the highest-ranking, we are told, Hispanic in leadership in the history of Congress. Bob Menendez, a young, rising star for the Democrats, clearly make a big move there. He actually won that race, by the way, by only one vote. He got that position by only one vote, a very close leadership race there among the Democrats -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Not often the Republicans supported a Democratic pick. But let me ask you this, does this suggest the Democratic Party is taking a new strategy, and that strategy is to go left?
KARL: Well, clearly Nancy Pelosi would say no to that question. Some can argue that. What you have to understand about Nancy Pelosi is not only is who represents a very liberal district, who has liberal views, this is somebody who actually opposed Bill Clinton on the issue of welfare reform, thinking that went too far to the right. So she always been on the left of her party, but she also have been a very strong party strategist, one of the top fund-raisers in the Democratic Party, and she was chosen not necessarily simply because of the direction she would take the party, but because she is somebody who has paid her dues and somebody who has proven herself as a Democratic strategists.
So it's unclear whether or not this is really going to be a turn to the left. Nancy Pelosi says that she is not going to be simply representing her district anymore. She is the leader of her party. She'll be acting as such.
As a matter of fact, you may have noticed last night, she voted in favor of the creation of the Homeland Security Department, even as many Democrats voted against it, because they were unhappy with the labor provisions. But Nancy Pelosi had previously voted against it, but now as the upcoming leader of her party, she supported it. That may be a tip of hat to the moderates in her party.
SAVIDGE: Maybe. Jonathan Karl, covering live history on the Hill, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Congress>
