CANDY CROWLEY: I can't let you get away without a political question. But I put the [question to] David Axelrod last week in a slightly different form. And that is, can Democrats in the House gain seats in the 2012 election if the unemployment rate is 9 percent?

PELOSI: We -- we expect to have a full debate about all of the issues that affect the American people. We are about the kitchen table, and what are the issues -– the jobs, the education of their children, the security of their pension, and their homes, and the rest of that.



It is very hard historically it is –- you can see the charge. When the jobs are –- the unemployment rate is high, it's hard for the incumbent to win. I remind you, though, we're not the incumbent. The Republicans are the incumbents.