Pelosi says key to beating GOP is to 'pull them down'

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/wickham/2006-07-24-pelosi_x.htm



If you like Tony Soprano and Colin Powell, you ought to love Nancy Pelosi.

The leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, Pelosi is a tough-as-nails liberal who can be as ruthless — and as charming — as the television mobster and the real-life general-turned-statesman.



Pelosi thinks she'll be the next House speaker. She believes that in the November elections Democrats will gain at least 15 seats — the minimum number needed to wrest control of the House away from Republicans...

...Pelosi said the marketers told Democrats that they "could not overtake the leader by just saying you have a good product. You have to pull them down first." And to do that, Democrats had to keep the focus on Bush and the Republicans who control Congress.

Strategy of attack

...So instead of pushing their ideas for the management of this nation, Democrats spent much of the past two years knocking what Republicans did — from efforts to privatize Social Security, to the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina relief, to the war in Iraq.

And if the polls are right, that might prove to be a good strategy.