Pelosi seems to have effectively jockeyed for position against her contenders, and her most formidable opponent Rep. Martin Frost (D.-TX) has just bowed out and endorsed her. CBS Although Frost contended in his campaign that Pelosi’s politics are too far to the left and she would not have any appeal with the middle-of-the-road majority whose attention he feels the Democrats have to win, the converse is more likely; the only hope for the party may be in an effective differentiation in platform from the Republicans that they have been unable to achieve in recent years. Perhaps, emboldened by the unprecedented midterm setbacks her party’s namby-pambyism has just engendered, Pelosi might steer her minority caucus toward an effective — dare we say principled? — opposition position. (Since the end of WWII, the Democrats have arguably been far more effective in the opposition than when in power.) In any case, she’s got to be an improvement on Dick Gephardt. But, we also have to get beyond platitudes about Democratic failure and contend with the fact that Dubya seems genuinely increasingly popular, although the most disingenuous President since Richard Nixon.