Nancy Pelosi is the most recent example of an outgoing Speaker who was elected Minority Leader, after the Democrats lost control of the House in the 2010 elections.

During the 111th Congress, Pelosi was the driving force behind several of Obama's major initiatives which proved controversial, so the Republicans campaigned against Pelosi and the Democrats ' legislation with their " Fire Pelosi Bus Tour " and regained control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections.

On November 16, 2006, Nancy Pelosi, who was then the House Minority Leader, was designated as Speaker-elect by the House Democrats.

Examples include Tip O ' Neill, who was a vocal opponent of President Ronald Reagan's domestic and defense policies ; Newt Gingrich, who fought a bitter battle with President Bill Clinton for control of domestic policy ; Nancy Pelosi, who clashed with President George W. Bush over domestic policy and the Iraq War ; and current Speaker John Boehner, who regularly clashes with President Barack Obama over budget issues as well as social issues such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Barnes came to Baltimore in 1953 for a one-month job as consultant traffic engineer, but Mayor Thomas D ' Alesandro, Jr. ( father of Nancy Pelosi ) was so impressed he hired Barnes as traffic commissioner.

: At the close of the 20th century, 31 men and woman of Italian descent were serving in the U. S. Congress and Senate – including Nancy Pelosi, who was the first woman in American history to become Speaker of the House.

: In politics, Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman vice-presidential candidate, Ella Grasso was the first woman elected as a state governor and Nancy Pelosi was the first woman Speaker of the House

After the Democrats took control of the House in 2007 and increased their majority in 2009, Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House for the 110th and 111th Congresses.

On November 17, 2010, Pelosi was elected as the Democratic Leader by House Democrats and therefore the Minority Leader in the Republican-controlled House for the 112th Congress.

Pelosi is Italian-American and was born Nancy Patricia D ' Alesandro in Baltimore, Maryland, the youngest of six children of Annunciata M. " Nancy " ( née Lombardi ) and Thomas D ' Alesandro, Jr., who was a Democratic party U. S. Congressman from Maryland and a Mayor of Baltimore.

Pelosi was involved with politics from an early age.

She met Paul Frank Pelosi ( b. April 15, 1940, in San Francisco ) while she was attending Trinity College.

After the couple married, they moved to New York, and then to San Francisco in 1969, where Mr. Pelosi's brother, Ronald Pelosi, was a member of the City and County of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.

In 1976, Pelosi was elected as a Democratic National Committee member from California, a position she would hold until 1996.

The strongest challenge Pelosi has faced was in 2008 when anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan polled 17 % and Pelosi won with 72 %.

In 2001, Pelosi was elected the House Minority Whip, second-in-command to Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

In 2002, after Gephardt resigned as minority leader to seek the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election, Pelosi was elected to replace him, becoming the first woman to lead a major party in the House.

In July 2009, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Colorado Congressman Jared Polis to the BOV, the first openly gay person to serve on a service academy ’ s advisory board.

In 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Honda to the influential Appropriations Committee.

Pelosi appointed Silvestre Reyes instead.

As a result of his role in championing immigration reform in the United States House of Representatives, in 2009 Gutiérrez was appointed Chair of the Democratic Caucus Immigration Task Force by Nancy Pelosi.

In March 2010 Schakowsky was appointed by Speaker Pelosi to President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, commonly known as the deficit commission.

Pelosi appointed him to the 12-member bipartisan Committee on Deficit Reduction with a mandate for finding major budget reductions by late 2011.

He was appointed to this position by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.

For the 2012 election cycle, Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed congressman Steve Israel to serve as the committee's chair.

), accompanied by their respective ranking minority members, Republican Sen. Richard C. Shelby and Rep. Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif .), led the joint inquiry, with L. Britt Snider, the former inspector general of the CIA appointed by George Tenet, as staff director.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Thompson to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in 2009.

In 2007, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Matsui to the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents, where she served until 2011.

In 2010, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Kimsey to the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, which oversees the investment of all gifts for the benefit of the Library ’ s collection and services.

Pelosi was named Permanent Chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

His leadership position was contested by the centrist Martin Frost, the outgoing Democratic Caucus Chair, and the liberal Nancy Pelosi, the Minority Whip, who was elected as Gephardt's successor.

The campaign contributed to outspoken support from 22 Democratic Senators, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the Democratic National Convention Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Caroline Kennedy and nine other co-chairs of President Obama's reelection campaign, and more than 40, 000 Americans who added their names to Freedom to Marry's online petition.

Due to term limits as Democratic Caucus Chair, Frost made a bid for Minority Leader after Dick Gephardt resigned in the wake of losing four seats in the 2002 Congressional midterm elections, but Frost dropped out of the race and supported eventual winner Nancy Pelosi.

Every member of the Democrats Abroad delegation has taken part in the " Green Delegate Challenge " sponsored by House Speaker and Permanent Convention Chair Nancy Pelosi ( D-CA ) and Convention organizers, by obtaining carbon offsets for their travel.

Permanent Chair Nancy Pelosi speaks during a press conference at the Colorado Convention Center the day before the start of the convention, flanked by the three co-chairs.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi served as permanent Chair of the Convention.

Over the years, Francis Coppola has given political contributions to several candidates of the Democratic Party, including Mike Thompson, Nancy Pelosi for the U. S. House of Representatives and Barbara Boxer and Alan Cranston for the U. S. Senate.

With the election of Barack Obama and Democratic gains in both houses of Congress, Pelosi became the first speaker since Tom Foley to hold the office during single-party Democratic leadership in Washington.

Nineteen Democratic representatives voted for Democrats other than Pelosi, who had been chosen as House Minority Leader and the Democrats ' candidate for Speaker, as a show of dissent.

A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi has represented California's 8th congressional district, which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco, since 1987.

After moving to San Francisco, Pelosi worked her way up in Democratic politics.

Pelosi represents one of the safest Democratic districts in the country.

On November 16, 2006, Pelosi was unanimously chosen by her caucus as the Democratic candidate for Speaker, effectively making her Speaker-elect.

Pelosi supported her longtime friend John Murtha of Pennsylvania for the position of House Majority Leader, the second-ranking post in the House Democratic caucus.

Prior to the U. S. 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi announced a plan for action: If elected, she and the newly empowered Democratic caucus would push through most of its program during the first hundred hours of the 110th Congress ' term.

Pelosi conducts convention business during the first day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

Despite the electoral setback suffered by her party, Pelosi sought to continue leading the House Democratic Caucus in the position of Minority Leader, the office she held prior to becoming Speaker.

Pelosi was a key figure in convincing President Barack Obama to continue pushing for health care reform after the election of Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown in a January special election, a defeat that was seen as potentially fatal to Democratic reform efforts.

In the special election's Democratic primary, Pelosi narrowly defeated San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, considered the more " progressive " candidate, with 36 percent of the vote to his 32 percent.

* Trinity Graduates Win Re-election: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi ' 62 Poised to Become Speaker, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius ' 70 Wins Second Term from Trinity Washington University, November 8, 2006

At an August 27, 2007, peace rally in Kennebunkport, Maine, McKinney confirmed the depth of her disenchantment with the Democratic Party, urging San Francisco voters to replace Nancy Pelosi with antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan.

Nancy Pelosi, who had worked to make the original bill accommodating for Democratic interests, was upset with the bill.

" Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeatedly said she would not support a resolution calling for Bush's impeachment, saying such a move was unlikely to succeed and would be divisive.