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Locked Out of His Own House
American Prowler ^ | 4/21/2003 | The Prowler

Posted on 04/20/2003 11:13:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Rep. Richard Gephardt, who compared to other Democratic presidential aspirants has been practically invisible, has been putting the heavy push on colleague Rep. Nancy Pelosi for her endorsement of his campaign.

Gephardt, who by stepping down as House Democratic leader late last year allowed Pelosi to move into that position, probably could have elicited a promise of her support back then when it seemed she would face a challenge to the leadership post. But he didn't even try for it.

Now Gephardt, who has seen his competition, most prominently Sen. Joseph Lieberman, locking up endorsements from House members for the past month, is struggling to get Pelosi's support. She isn't making it easy.

Before heading home to St. Louis for the spring recess, Gephardt attempted to meet with Pelosi, only to be put off. Why? "She was meeting with Howard Dean," says a Pelosi staffer.

Dean is also running for president and, unlike Gephardt, is an ideological soulmate of the far-left leaning Pelosi. The House leader has thus far declined to comment on the meeting with Dean, but Dean and his people are far more willing.

"She wouldn't commit to an endorsement, but she's sharing her fundraising list for California with us and she promised to keep talking," says a Dean staffer. "This is a huge break for us. Frankly, we're surprised she's been left available."

It isn't for lack of trying. Gephardt did finally get in to see Pelosi, but left with nothing but a handshake and thank you for dropping by. "Aside from her power as leader of the party in the House, she understands she has real influence in steering House endorsements to the presidential candidates," says the Pelosi staffer. "It is a power thing and she didn't get here by not understanding it. And she's not going to piss it away just because Gephardt helped her get it. He'd be doing the same thing in the same position."

Gephardt, though, is clearly feeling the pressure. Lieberman and John Kerry especially have been seeking early commitments from House members, in part, because of the fundraising help they can provide at the state and local level. Lieberman has been burning lots of dollars on his organization and needs that kind of help. For Gephardt, it's less about the money, and more about having his colleagues, many of whom owe him countless political favors, vocally supporting his candidacy.

"If he can't muster the majority of House members at least initially, he's not going to be looking so good," says a Democratic National Committee staffer. "The word is Pelosi isn't going to commit early. The rest of the caucus may follow her lead. That isn't good for Gephardt."


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: house; politics; presidentialrace; richardgephardt

1 posted on 04/20/2003 11:13:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Pelosi is a godsend. With her backing Dean and forcing the democrats farther left it's looking better. Let's be realistic. The Dems lost only 2-3% of the vote to the extreme left. If they go for that they lose more moderate votes.

Bush just needs to keep his base and we're in like flint.
2 posted on 04/20/2003 11:20:12 PM PDT by Bogey78O (check it out... http://freepers.zill.net/users/bogey78o_fr/puppet.swf)
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To: Bogey78O; A Citizen Reporter; Miss Marple; PhiKapMom; Molly Pitcher; Common Tator; nicollo
Hmm. Interesting.
3 posted on 04/20/2003 11:25:36 PM PDT by kayak (Pray for President Bush, our troops, and our nation!)
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To: kayak
04 will be a near landslide
4 posted on 04/20/2003 11:36:05 PM PDT by cars for sale
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To: Bogey78O
Could you imagine if Dean actually got the nomination?
5 posted on 04/21/2003 12:57:53 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: kayak
Thanks for the ping! This is looking very interesting. Dean as a candidate would insure a landslide for Pres Bush IMHO. Dean won't play well in the Country west and south of NYC/NJ!
6 posted on 04/21/2003 6:47:32 AM PDT by PhiKapMom (Get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US)
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To: nickcarraway; kayak
Thanks for the ping, Kay.

Is this a parody? I mean, I must be dreaming.
Pelosi backing Dean? Perfect.

And whatz up with the Liebs? He really thinks he has a chance, or does he know he's just taking the sword for the party and it's '08 champion, Hillary? The best thing Lieberman has going for him is that he was behind the war. Er, that means he backed the President. How, exactly, does he run against the President now? They're all screwed. It's a marvel to watch.

[Btw, anybody else know that Dean is a graduate of St. George's prep school in Newport? I guess he's been feeling guilty about it ever since]
7 posted on 04/22/2003 8:52:40 PM PDT by nicollo
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To: nickcarraway
bump.
8 posted on 04/22/2003 9:00:57 PM PDT by green team 1999
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To: nickcarraway
You can bet all democrats are oiling the vote fraud machinery in their perspective states. Nothing, not one positive thing has been done about fraud since 2000.

Something as important as a national election for President should have a national standard, not a per state standard.
If the states want to corrupt their local elections that's too bad, but in no way should a state be allowed to corrupt a national election.
9 posted on 04/23/2003 4:53:12 AM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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