Pelosi Steps Into the Spotlight

"You don't have to be a chair now or a ranking member to play a key role," Schiff said.

Pelosi's bicoastal political identity was formed by some hard lessons and lucky breaks. Her late father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., was a mayor of Baltimore, but after 12 years in office, he was defeated in a primary and later lost a Senate bid. Pelosi married a wealthy San Francisco businessman and migrated West. While raising five children, she waded into state politics as a fundraiser and organizer, becoming California Democratic Party chairman in 1981. She was narrowly elected to the House in a 1987 special election, at age 47.

Pelosi, now 66, talks frequently about her roles as a mother and grandmother, and this perspective powerfully informs how she views her political job. She gushed over a group of school kids who greeted her at the Capitol yesterday morning. They reminded her, she later told reporters, that the election "was about the future," and underscored "the responsibility of one generation to another." When Pelosi wants her House colleagues to know she means business, she uses her "mother of five voice."

She is a stickler for good behavior. Pelosi pledged on election night to lead "the most honest, the most open and most ethical Congress in history" and earned wide praise earlier this year when she forced Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) to surrender a coveted seat on the Ways and Means Committee, after he became embroiled in a corruption scandal.

Pelosi is a devout Catholic, and while she supports abortion rights, she recognizes a growing concern among Democrats that the issue is so divisive that it is pushing many voters beyond the party's reach. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan of Ohio belongs to a new generation of more conservative Democrats who want to address abortion in a different way, by aiming to reduce unwanted pregnancies. He recalled Pelosi's presence at numerous meetings with both pro-abortion-rights and antiabortion Democrats to diffuse tensions and allow Ryan and his colleagues to bring a bill forward.

"It's just very skillful, very seasoned," Ryan said of Pelosi's approach.

Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), who is expected to take over the Appropriations Committee, said Pelosi would define her leadership by pushing for her agenda while banishing the "oppressive sense of meanness to the place" that he said Republicans had brought to Capitol Hill. He compared Pelosi to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was known for her hardball political tactics.

"She's got the toughness and tenacity of Maggie Thatcher, but she's nice about it," Obey said.