Pelosi to hold weekly press conferences

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is delivering on her promise of more openness as she prepares for showdowns on spending bills, children’s health insurance and the war in Iraq.
   
Her office announced late Thursday that she will hold her first “weekly press conference” today at 10 a.m.
   
{mosads}Pelosi’s staff also returned to the practice of announcing her calendar this week.
  
The Speaker tipped her hand last week during a press conference on children’s health insurance, saying she intended to raise her public profile.
   
Pelosi had not met with reporters on her own in weeks, but promised more frequent meetings to challenge Bush and push back against polls giving Congress dismal approval ratings.
   
Asked whether she would meet weekly with reporters, as former Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-Mass.) did, Pelosi jokingly responded, “It might be every day. Are you ready for that?”
   
Until now, Pelosi has been somewhat press-shy, limiting public comments to speeches and press conferences pegged to large events. That left House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.), who hosts a weekly “pen-and-pad” camera-free session with reporters, as the Democratic House leader most closely engaged with the press.
   
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has a weekly on-camera press conference. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and House Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) have a weekly pen-and-pad.