Pelosi-Clinton showdown

After Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won her battle to become minority whip in 2001, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) called to congratulate her.

But, as The Hill’s Mike Soraghan reported in February, Clinton and Pelosi are not close. The first female Speaker and the candidate seeking to become the first woman to be elected president have different opinions on how long the Democratic primary should last.

During an interview last month on ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi, who is chairwoman of the 2008 Democratic convention, said, “I do think that before we go to the convention, we will have a nominee. We’re going to that convention unified.” She later added, “This is going to be over before we go to the convention.”

Two weeks later, Clinton vowed to take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, saying, “I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong. I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don’t resolve it, we’ll resolve it at the convention — that’s what credentials committees are for.”

 And in a move that was not politically astute, big Democratic donors who back Clinton sent a letter last month to Pelosi that called the Speaker out for her “untenable position” on superdelegates. Pelosi, who is neutral in the presidential primary race, has argued that the superdelegates should not overrule what Democratic primary votes decide. The donors said superdelegates have an obligation to make an informed decision about who would be the party’s strongest nominee. And to top it off, the donors pointed out — with a blunt air of menace — that they have been strong supporters of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The letter did not sit well with Pelosi’s shop, especially because the Clinton campaign was well aware it was being sent. If Pelosi is irritated, she isn’t showing it, at least not publicly. She’s a tough politician who, as tough politicians do, remembers everything.

She knows that Democrats are likely to retain Congress and have a huge opportunity to control the White House next year. She was stunned that President Bush won a second term in 2004 and is committed to doing everything to help a Democrat win the presidency, regardless of which Democrat that is.

Asked last month if she is willing to step in to end a stalemate between Obama and Clinton, Pelosi responded, “Well, I believe that this will be over, one way or another.”

Democratic hand-wringing will go away if Clinton loses the Pennsylvania primary this month. Yet if the race drags on, Pelosi may pick up the phone and have another conversation with Clinton that would be very different than their discussion seven years ago.