December 5th Breakfast -- UPDATE: Terry McAuliffe and Profile of Speaker Nancy Pelosi  

UPDATE: Terry McAuliffe joins us on Friday for brief remarks.  In 2009, we will invite back Creigh Deeds and Brian to speak with us as well for updates on their respective campaigns. 

 

If one thing is clear in the recent election results, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be more powerful than ever and central to every policy debate under President Obama. As the Politico recently reported Pelosi "has become the most powerful woman in U.S. political history and is now preparing to wield her gavel in a way that few, if any, recent speakers could match. Even former Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the architect of the 1994 Republican Revolution, pales in comparison."

 

In Madam Speaker, Mr. Sandalow, an esteemed journalist and political analyst who covered Pelosi for decades, offers a richly nuanced portrait of the woman who made history. Sandalow will also provide analysis to the NVDBC on what her speakership means and the power she will weild in 2009.  He charts Pelosi's political roots, honing in on her father, who spent five terms in Congress and stored hundreds of copies of the Congressional Record under her bed, and goes on to examine how Pelosi, who didn't run for political office until she was 47 years old, juggled her family life and fought hard to forge a place for herself in Washington, ultimately becoming one of the most influential voices in our nation.  
 
Based on hundreds of interviews with Pelosi's colleagues, family, and friends-and the Speaker herself - Marc Sandalow culls together insightful anecdotes and political analysis to chronicle Pelosi's meteoric rise and controversial tenure. Madam Speaker illuminates the inspiring life of a woman who has already made history.
 
Marc Sandalow spent 21 years on the staff of the San Francisco Chronicle, the last 10 years as the paper's Washington bureau chief. He is currently a political analyst on national and local radio. Sandalow is a coauthor of a book on baseball entitled Ballparks: A Panoramic History, and lives in Bethesda, Maryland.