Editorial: Pelosi wins rural friends

Nancy Pelosi has proven to be a far more politically savvy speaker of the House than most of her critics, and some of her fans, expected. This is not to say that she has done enough to end the war in Iraq or hold the Bush administration to account, nor that she has avoided predictable pitfalls that are discovered by new congressional leaders.

But she has kept her caucus together and drawn significant Republican support as the House has addressed minimum wage, stem cell research and ethics issues that were neglected by her Republican predecessor.

Even conservative commentator Bob Novak, via the anything but Pelosi-friendly Evans-Novak political wire, commented, "The 'hundred hours' program of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been a success beyond all anticipation."

But Pelosi's achievement ought not be measured merely by reviewing the legislation that has passed the House. It is also important to pay attention to her outreach to constituencies that Democrats tended to ignore during the Clinton and early Bush years - to the party's dramatic detriment.

Today, Pelosi will deliver the keynote address at the National Farmers Union's 105th annual convention. Her focus will be on opportunities for development in rural communities, with special attention to increasing the use of renewable fuels. The speaker recognizes that there is common ground on which the party's environmentally conscious base can stand with farmers, and she is paying a lot of attention to that turf.

But the most important thing about Pelosi's appearance at the National Farmers Union convention in Orlando will not be what she says. Rather, it will be that the most prominent Democrat in Washington is going out of her way to spend time with farmers and ranchers.

For years, Democrats prattled on about how to appeal to this suburb or that suburb, failing to recognize that they were losing winnable House seats in the vast rural stretches of America. Campaign after campaign went by, with Republicans giving just enough attention to rural voters to gain victories that never should have gone to the party of corporate agribusiness.

The Democratic Party's failure to address basic concerns of rural America - on issues ranging from trade policy to renewable fuels to the unique concerns of remote regions regarding health care and education - cost the party dearly.

Along with the new Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, Minnesota's Colin Peterson and Iowa's Tom Harkin, Pelosi has worked hard to get farm and rural issues back on the party's agenda. Even before she was speaker, in 2003, Pelosi urged the formation of an advisory panel of House members to focus on policy matters that are of particular concern to farmers and rural residents.

Others, including Wisconsin Democrats Russ Feingold, Herb Kohl, Dave Obey and Ron Kind, have worked hard to get Democrats to recognize that there are unmet economic and social needs in rural America - not to mention significant openings for smart electoral appeals by a Democratic Party that recognizes and addresses those needs.

Pelosi, a native of Baltimore who now represents San Francisco, has been impressively attentive to the concerns of corners of America that have in recent years been exploited by too many Republicans and neglected by too many Democrats.

National Farmers Union President Tom Buis says Pelosi "is leading the charge to develop strong rural policy in Congress."

That is high praise, indeed, for a big-city politician like Pelosi. But she has earned it by going out of her way to pay attention to rural America, by focusing on proper policies and, perhaps just as important, by showing up for events like the convention of the National Farmers Union.