Nancy Pelosi

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp.)

PRINCETON - A week to the day after Congress passed a health care reform bill that she personally maneuvered through the lower house halls of power, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California on Saturday described the measure as a stimulus of economic and individual freedom.

"The public option creates dynamism in the economy," said Pelosi after touring the University Medical Center at Princeton with U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp.). "We want to encourage self-employment. We want people to take risks, and the biggest anvil around our entrepreneurial spirit is the cost of healthcare. This is a liberator for people.

"The premiums pay for the benefits," added the Democratic Party leader.

Pelosi was scheduled to attend a fundraiser on Holt's behalf after touring the hospital facility.

Although Holt regularly dispatches of his Republican challengers every two years by, on average, 30-point margins, he said he never underestimates his opponents in a Democratic district dominated by independent voters.

A week to the day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi tomorrow afternoon will join U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp.) for a tour of the University Medical Center in Princeton.

After losing two Democratic statewide primaries, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) seems to have settled into a career path as a congressional insider. He has forged a close political alliance with the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and has emerged as a key congressional insider.  Andrews was designated by the Democratic leadership as a point man on the health care bill that passed Saturday night; he got national television exposure, and a front page New York Times photo. 

Getty Images Photo

'Deep Throat' Mark Felt died today yesterday at age 95.

As a Republican Congressman who served out his final term during the Watergate scandal, Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen did not know Mark Felt, the FBI’s number two man who turned out to be the famous “Deep Throat.”

But, reflecting on Felt’s passing yesterday at the age of 95, Frelinghuysen said he did the right thing by leaking information to Bob Woodward, and wishes there were more whistleblowers like him.

“If it’s something that should be talked about, we should talk about it,” said Frelinghuysen, 92, whose family has been prominent in New Jersey politics for over two centuries. “The sad part about Nixon was we were ready to impeach him if he hadn’t resigned.”

Frelinghuysen entered the House in 1953 – the same year Dwight Eisenhower took over the presidency. But unlike many of his fellow Republicans in the mid-1970s anti-Nixon wave, Frelinghuysen’s retirement was not forced. After 22 years, he felt he had been in office long enough in his safe district.

Looking back on it, Frelinghuysen has a hard time understanding he motivations behind the players of the Watergate scandal.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) could face a challenge for his subcommittee chairmanship from outgoing Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.)

There is speculation that ousted House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell will challenge Frank Pallone for the Health Subcommittee chairmanship, according to a report in The Hill. Pallone has played a key role in the campaign of helping Henry Waxman defeat Dingell by fifteen votes last Thursday.  Pallone is prepared to mount a campaign to keep his post against a Dingell challenge, according to a source familiar with his thinking.  

The full committee decides subcommittee chairmanships, which then must be approved by the Democratic Steering Committee.  An early vote tally is difficult, since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet filled two oen seats on the panel.  And because Democrats picked up at least 21 seats in the general election earlier this month, it's possible that the majority party could hold more than their current number of seats, 31.

Dear Madam Speaker:

I want to congratulate you for personally seeing to it the Bailout Bill would go down in flames. You broke the simplest rule of politics, “Don’t gloat before you vote.”

Democratic committees from the three counties that comprise the 1st Congressional District will meet tonight to put U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews back (D-Haddon Heights) on the ballot.

Pretty much everyone acknowledges that's a foregone conclusion.  Everyone, that is, except Andrews.

Andrews said that he doesn't take his candidacy for granted, and has reached out to over 500 county committee men and women from Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties.

"All I know is I've made an effort to reach out to as many county committee people as I can," he said.  "I just think people want to be asked, and these are the people that have been most instrumental in my political success.  The committee people are really the heart and soul of the party, and I wanted to make it known that I respect their judgment."

Barack Obama shakes Bob Menendez's hand at the Democratic National Convention in Denver tonight: MSNBC Photo
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, who did not get a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention, made it near the stage tonight -- he watched Joe Biden accept the vice presidential nomination from premium seats near the stage, in a box that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean, and former Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle. After Barack Obama joined Biden on the stage, he made his way over and shook hands with the junior Senator from New Jersey.

There is no shortage of second and third generations of American political families addressing delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week: Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy; James Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988; U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the daughter of former New Orleans Mayor/U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Moon Landrieu; U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA), the son of former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey; Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the daughter of former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the daughter of former Baltimore Mayor/U.S. Rep. Thomas D’Alesandro; Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, the son of former U.S. Sen. John Culver (D-IA); New York Gov. David Paterson, the son of former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson; and Cecile Richards, the daughter of former Texas Governor Anne Richards.