...Pelosi is not necessarily the public face most Democrats would have chosen to represent a party struggling to look strong in these unsettled times — a 66-year-old liberal congresswoman from war-protesting San Francisco who looks too demure to stand up for national security and isn't great on TV.

Republican ad campaigns cast her as a caricature of liberal excess; depicted with eyes bulging and mouth agape, she looks like she's about to pop a blood vessel or bite somebody...

..."Prior leadership did not discipline the troops in the way Nancy has," said Vic Fazio, a former Democratic congressman from West Sacramento, now a Washington lobbyist. "And she brought a lot of new donors to the table."

Pelosi proved herself in the backrooms and trenches of Washington, not on the Sunday morning talking-heads circuit. She tends to speak in scripted talking points — one columnist likened her delivery to "a compendium of bumper stickers." She leans toward mind-numbing alliteration: The only three excuses for breaking from the party line are "conscience, constituents, Constitution."

Most agree she has improved with practice and occasional guidance from media coaches to slow down and smile. She was more relaxed during a recent appearance on the "Late Show With David Letterman" and drew applause more than once with jabs such as: "Mr. President, 'stay the course' is not a strategy, it's a slogan, and we need more than that."

Unlike previous party leaders from both sides — Democrat Richard Gephardt and Republican Newt Gingrich, most notably — Pelosi isn't running for president. Her raucous but loyal district has sent her to Washington 10 times, by margins so huge that she doesn't campaign; she's never needed national exposure and says she would rather spend her time promoting her party than herself.

"I could stay in Washington all the time and go on Sunday morning shows, but I don't have time for that. I need to be traveling and raising money and be at home," she says from the back seat of a black SUV on her way to yet another fundraiser. "At the beginning of all this 23 months ago, we were told we were a permanent minority…. I'm fighting a battle here. I'm not getting my hair done."

In some ways she is similar to Dennis Hastert, who also lacks oratory and public relations skills, but who runs his caucus with an iron hand. Of course, Hastert's operation hasn't functioned since the loss of his hammer, Tom DeLay. Many Democrats are uncomfortable with the idea of Pelosi as the public face of the party and, if we win the House but not the Senate, she will certainly be that.

I don't know if we should really be worried. If she continues her behind the scenes role and effectively delegates 'message' out to more skilled media pols, she may be able to be quite effective.

Here's a sample of why I have confidence in her.

Acting on advice from marketing gurus after the 2004 presidential election, Pelosi ordered her ranks to assail the Bush privatization plan while offering nothing of their own that the Republicans could counterassault. Week after week impatient Democrats asked, "When can we propose a plan?" and week after week she intoned, "Never."

When the Bush team visited 60 cities in 60 days to sell Medicare prescription coverage — the centerpiece of his second term — Democrats were on the ground too, with a message of higher drug costs and industry perks.

In eight months, support for Bush's idea among seniors had dropped significantly, marking the beginning of his decline in national public opinion polls.

"We had to make them pay … for trying to do that to the American people," she explains, displaying the bite that has made her reputation as a political pit bull.

"We ha[ve] to make them pay … for...do[ing] that to the American people" should be our mantra going forward.