re: #47 lawhawk

Pelosi’s an effective party leader and speaker precisely because she appears to take the concerns of the caucus into account.

She knows that there’s factions that want her to move all the way to the left, while most of the party is still more centrist. She can accommodate both by appearing open to various moves, wink/nod to the kabuki play with AOC for instance, and still round up all the votes needed to be named Speaker (and I’m thinking that she’s done the numbers = if there’s 235 Democrats, she’ll have more than 220 locked up backing her).

There wont be a newbie in the Speaker. She might assign one or more of the so-called anti-Pelosi folks to a position in the caucus. Or, she’ll nod sagely and then let them carry on knowing that the party will continue moving ahead and that some members need to act “independent” to remain in office, all while voting with the caucus nearly all the time.

Well, the agreement last night with Rep. Pryapal didnt hurt….that sure as hell seemed to me that she was building a bench while giving some big juicy assignments to her left flank…something a smart leader does, given the election results….