For Some Embattled Democrats, a Campaign Against Their Leader

From The New York Times:

As if embattled Congressional Democrats did not have enough on their hands, some are opening up a new front in their fight to save their seats — against Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House and a leader of their own party.

Representative Jim Marshall, a Democrat here in central Georgia [in Perry], spent much of a debate on Thursday night renouncing Ms. Pelosi, whose liberal views and San Francisco district have always been anathema to this region.

“Pelosi was never my choice for speaker,” Mr. Marshall said, eliciting boos from a skeptical audience in an arena here at the Georgia National Fair. Mr. Marshall actually voted for Ms. Pelosi as speaker but said he had not wanted her for the job and would not vote for her again.

As the midterm campaign barrels through its final weeks, more Democrats — many but not all in conservative districts in the South — are backing away from Ms. Pelosi and declaring their independence.

At the same time, many of these Democrats, including Mr. Marshall, have received financial aid from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, whose chief fund-raiser is Ms. Pelosi. The money comes despite votes by many of these Blue Dog Democrats against major Democratic initiatives like the health care bill.

“They haven’t turned off the spigot, and they’re not going to,” said Doug Moore, a spokesman for Mr. Marshall.

Biting the hand that feeds you and feeding the one who bites you are not always successful strategies, but they underscore the stakes in the Nov. 2 elections. Democrats are doing whatever it takes to try to keep their majority.

And they have Ms. Pelosi’s blessing.

Other Democrats are swallowing hard, questioning the wisdom of helping out colleagues who, if re-elected, would oppose their agenda and weaken their party leadership, particularly if the Democrats hold the House by just a few seats.

Some Democrats had already distanced themselves from Ms. Pelosi, but their overt declarations that they would not vote for her are relatively new and are intensifying.

A CBS News poll early this month showed that 44 percent of all registered voters viewed her unfavorably, while just 15 percent viewed her favorably. (A full 40 percent had no opinion.)

Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist, said the Democrats who were distancing themselves from Ms. Pelosi had no choice. “They’re losing, and they’re losing because they’re tied to the Democratic Party in general and Nancy Pelosi in particular,” he said.