Some say the White House deliberately excluded Pelosi from budget talks. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Pelosi fades as power player

During the past election season, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could have starred in a remake of the Hollywood cult classic “Attack of the 50-Foot Woman.” In an endless string of campaign ads, Republicans caricatured her — even put her image on billboards — as a political monster.

But now, the former House speaker more closely resembles “The Incredible Shrinking Woman.”


Her diminished stature has affected the way she is perceived in Washington’s power game and the way she handles her duties as head of the House Democratic minority. It all adds up to this: At times, the once-omnipresent Pelosi seems practically invisible in the Capitol.

When President Barack Obama, Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hammered out a deal last week to avert a shutdown and fund the government for the rest of the year, Pelosi was delivering a speech at Tufts University near Boston.

But her hands would have been idle if she had stayed in Washington: The White House didn’t want her involved in the talks.

In fact, Democratic and Republican sources tell POLITICO, none of the power brokers wanted her in the room. They feared that her presence and her defense of liberal values would have made it impossible for Obama to cut a deal with Boehner. The sources say Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also was excluded so the White House could justify keeping Pelosi out.

Boehner, more or less, had McConnell’s proxy in negotiating with Senate Democrats and the White House.

Pelosi’s shutout from the biggest deal so far this year is a remarkable comedown for a former speaker who drove the legislative process in the past Congress. Some Democrats also say they’re steamed at the White House for mistreating Pelosi after she delivered the president’s legislative agenda in the past Congress and took lumps for him on the campaign trail. A Pelosi aide insists that during the budget negotiations, “she made it clear to all parties that there was a willingness on the part of House Democrats to work to keep government open.”

But one veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus told POLITICO that dynamic is driving his decision to vote no on the long-term spending bill.

There’s “no commitment to support it” because “Democrats haven’t really been part of the discussion,” said the lawmaker, who requested anonymity. Asked about Reid’s presence, the lawmaker replied in disgust: “That’s the Senate.”

On Wednesday, Pelosi’s frustration with the White House boiled over in a closed-door leadership meeting with Gene Sperling, head of the president’s National Economic Council, as they discussed Obama’s plan to put together a congressional working group on deficit-reduction matters.

“Maybe you could consult with us just once,” Pelosi said — a light elbow to the administration’s ribs. She was quickly assured that the president’s proposal could be altered and that House Democratic input would be considered.

Pelosi’s loss of standing is most obviously seen in the transfer of official functions to new Speaker John Boehner and in her inability to attract as much media attention now that she’s leading a party caucus that is largely irrelevant to policymaking.

Her aides say she’s making herself available to the press on a weekly basis — though one-on-one interviews are with more friendly organizations and reporters — and point to the 17 floor speeches she has made so far this year as evidence of her continued visibility. She puts out more press releases than other lawmakers, and she has used Twitter to communicate with her followers on matters as important as her decision to remain in the Democratic leadership after the past election.

The loss of power “hasn’t curtailed her or caused her to be less visible,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). “I don’t think she has stepped back. That’s not in her nature.”

And Pelosi still holds great sway with a critical constituency: rich liberal donors who adore her and write generous checks for Democratic causes when she headlines fundraising events. She also remains unchallenged as the Democratic Caucus leader.

But many Democratic lawmakers and aides say they detect a shift in Pelosi’s approach to her leadership of the party. Long a lightning rod in the political debate, she has now delegated more responsibility for carrying the Democratic message to junior members. And her closest allies acknowledge that Pelosi is spending more time raising money for the 2012 election.

“She’s all over the country doing what she does best,” one of Pelosi’s close friends said.

She made waves at Tufts by saying “elections shouldn’t matter as much as they do” — though her aides say her remarks were intentionally misinterpreted by political adversaries.

“To my Republican friends: Take back your party. So that it doesn’t matter so much who wins the election because we have shared values about, again, the education of our children, the growth of our economy, how we defend our country, have security and civil liberties, how we respect our seniors,” she said in her speech. “The fact is, is that elections shouldn’t matter as much as they do — should be someplace on the spectrum where we respect each other’s views and all the rest. But when it comes to a place where there doesn’t seem to be shared values, then that can be problematic for the country, as I think you can see right now.”

If Pelosi is a little bit disillusioned with the electorate, it’s no wonder.

A year ago, the first woman to become House speaker had just enacted a historic overhaul of the nation’s health care system, and she was being compared with the most powerful speakers of the past. But the voters soon turned her out of power, leaving her back in the thankless minority leader post she occupied before winning control of the House in 2006.

Leaving the remarks aside, one senior Democratic aide said Pelosi’s departure from Washington in the middle of a budget crisis was a bad move.

“As Rome was burning, she was in Boston,” the aide said.

Some House Democrats say they think Pelosi’s aware that the fundraising and party-building skills can be offset by a high public profile — especially when she’s as unpopular as she was during the past election.

“I think it pains her to not be out there as much. But she also must wonder whether she’s hurting the Democratic Party,” said one Pelosi ally who has noticed her reduced public profile but believes the work she is doing now is vital to a Democratic resurgence. “She is very important for most Democrats in the House. Clearly, she got things done and has the capability to get things done.”

In that vein, Pelosi has spent a lot of her time this year reaching out to base party constituencies and talking to “friendly” news outlets, as well as raising money. She’s expected to raise more than $25 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee before the 2012 election — a remarkable amount for the leader of a House minority.

“Her travel schedule is more aggressive than it was last cycle in the first quarter,” said one Pelosi insider.

That may help explain why she’s less visible in Washington.