"Pelosi's countdown"

SF Chronicle:

Glenside, Pa. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that a Republican victory Tuesday would prolong the U.S. involvement in Iraq another 10 years, as she embarked on a final push in a campaign that could make her speaker.

In an interview from her Capitol office, Pelosi characterized Tuesday's vote as a referendum on the war, shrugged off President Bush's efforts to make her liberalism a national issue, described the current GOP leadership as a "freak show," and expressed confidence about her party's prospects to pick up the 15 seats it needs for a majority.

"I know where the numbers are in these races, and I know that they are there for the 15; today (it's) 22 to 26," Pelosi said Friday.

[Podcast: Mark Sandalow with Nancy Pelosi on elections, Iraq and SF. ]

Pelosi cautioned that the number of Democratic House victories could be higher or lower and said her greatest concern is over the integrity of the count -- from the reliability of electronic voting machines to her worries that Republicans will try to manipulate the outcome.

"That is the only variable in this," Pelosi said. "Will we have an honest count?''

In a final effort to motivate loyalists, Pelosi raced through three districts in the Philadelphia suburbs Saturday, where polls show Democratic challengers running even, if not slightly ahead.

"When you're thinking about how many calls to make, how many precincts to walk, how many friends to reach out to, just think of the difference that a new direction will make,'' Pelosi told nearly 1,000 enthusiastic Democrats at a rally here for Patrick Murphy, who is running even in his contest against Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick.

The importance of the Philadelphia suburbs to the Democrats' chances was reinforced by the presence of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, former Vice President Al Gore and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell at the Saturday rallies.

Pelosi plans to stump today for Democratic candidates in Connecticut before returning to Washington to await election returns.

Sporting a red, white and blue scarf embroidered with Democratic donkeys, Pelosi focused her public comments on the Democrats' domestic plans, should they win, for the first 100 legislative hours (raise the minimum wage, cut interest rates on student loans, roll back subsidies to oil companies, boost stem cell research, strengthen homeland security).

Yet during the interview, she asserted that discontent over the war is the No. 1 issue driving the election.

"This election is about Iraq,'' said Pelosi, a consistent war opponent who has said her failure to prevent the United States from going to war in 2003 is her greatest disappointment in public life.

"If indeed it turns out the way that people expect it to turn out, the American people will have spoken, and they will have rejected the course of action the president is on."

If they win, Democrats will immediately reach out to Bush to find a bipartisan way to begin redeploying troops "outside of Iraq," Pelosi said. They will also apply pressure to disarm the militias, amend the Iraqi constitution and engage in diplomacy in the region.

"A Democratic victory would be in furtherance of reaching that goal. Absent a Democratic victory, we'll be there for the next 10 years,'' Pelosi said.

Acknowledging that Bush has previously rejected suggestions for scaling back U.S. involvement, Pelosi said a victory Tuesday would give "Democrats in Congress a great deal more leverage in the conversation with the president."

Pelosi downplayed expectations that a report by former Republican Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton -- expected to be made public shortly after the election -- will call for a significant change of course and provide Bush an opportunity to change directions.

"It's hard to imagine any group headed by Secretary Baker, whom I respect personally but who is so close to the Bush administration, will come up with any proposal that is any different than what the president is proposing," Pelosi said.

Bush has also been portraying the stakes in Iraq in increasingly stark terms as the election approaches, asserting that a Democratic victory would amount to "cutting and running," and that leaving Iraq would provide the terrorists a foothold from which they would pose a threat to the United States for another generation.

He has also increasingly used Pelosi as a foil, mocking her comment that Democrats "love tax cuts" and telling crowds that she must be a secret admirer.

Asked whether she takes offense at Bush's characterization of her, Pelosi grimaced.

"No. No. He knows I don't mind. Why would I mind if the president of the United States, whom I have called incompetent, would try to undermine me?

"It just goes to show you, though, how bankrupt the Republicans are of ideas," Pelosi said. "This election is about the president of the United States; it's not about me. But it's interesting they've made the president of the United States the political hit man, and now he's making personal attacks, not only on me, but on the city I proudly represent."

She said the attacks have not been effective because half the country has never heard of her, but added: "I think they'll know who the speaker of the House is if we win."

The refrain of "San Francisco values" has been used in campaigns across the country to tie more conservative Democrats to the liberal politics of Pelosi and the city, in what many view as a not-so-subtle reference to the city's embrace of diversity.

Pelosi said she welcomed the attention.

"Any focus on San Francisco is wonderful for us. San Francisco is a city which insures all of our children ... it is a city that has been a hotbed of activity, whether it's entrepreneurial spirit and the technological world, whether it's protecting the environment, (or) protecting individual rights. It is the city of St. Francis. ... So I hope they will pay attention to San Francisco."

Pelosi called the attacks a reflection of GOP desperation as election day approaches.

She said her pledge to restore civility to the House, open up the rules for debate, and permit the minority party to participate will be a radical departure from the status quo.

"We're going to take back the country for the American people -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- because it has been held hostage by the radical right wing of the Republican Party," Pelosi said.

"This is a freak show, and it has to come to an end," Pelosi said. "This is about a Congress and White House whose purpose is to concentrate wealth into the top 1 percent of our country at the expense of the middle class."

If Democrats win, and Speaker Dennis Hastert is forced to hand the gavel to Pelosi, "I'll receive it, in my view, from the hands of special interests on behalf of America's future."