Nancy Pelosi still GOP's 'potent poison'


By ALEX ISENSTADT | 5/20/11 4:27 AM EDT

Nancy Pelosi’s role in Congress might be significantly diminished, but if you listen to Republicans, you’d think she still runs Washington.

Even though Pelosi lost the speaker’s gavel in January, she continues to play a starring role in GOP attacks. Pelosi figures prominently in Republican TV ads, robocalls, mailers and press releases — reviving a popular playbook page from the 2010 election, when Republicans consistently disparaged opponents by tethering them to Pelosi.

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VIDEO: Pelosi hits Republicans

The National Republican Congressional Committee has made Pelosi a secondary villain in the special election race for a western New York House seat. It unleashed a new TV ad this week imagining Pelosi as a puppet master, pulling the strings of her marionette, Democratic candidate Kathy Hochul. The Republican candidate, Jane Corwin, asks in another ad: “Why do Kathy Hochul and Nancy Pelosi get along so well?â€