When I heard that Nancy Pelosi was third in line to be president, I asked my mom, "So if Bush got impeached and Cheney had an accident hunting, she'd be president?''
This week, I went to a tea for her with Arianna and my mom. As soon as I walked into the Mellon Auditorium, I noticed that the ballroom was adorned with flowers. There were big trays of wedding cookies, baskets of Pelosi pins, and many old ladies.
Rosa DeLauro introduced Nancy Pelosi. She was funny, but she spoke much more than Madame Speaker did. Then Nancy P.'s granddaughter Madeline gave a speech about her "Mimi.'' Everyone was so excited, I think they forgot all about Madame Speaker's speech. I have to say, everyone had humor in their speeches but Madame Speaker.
Then a girl named Lily gave a speech about her grandmother, Ann Richards, who my mom liked a lot when she used to live in Texas. I thought it was very sweet of them to include Ann Richards even when everyone was so excited about Nancy P.
Before the speeches started, I asked Paul P: "What do you want your wife to do as speaker?'' He answered with a grin, "Make the world a better place for children.'' Nancy P. confirmed that in her speech.
When Rosa DeLauro said that the son of Nancy P.'s chief of staff would sing, "It's a Wonderful World,' the boy began shaking his head wildly as Nancy pulled him across the stage. He shook his head, but he knew that in the end he would sing the song and everyone would like it. I was surprised (like everyone else) at what a good voice he had.
If you ask me, he got a better standing ovation than Nancy herself! After the speeches were over, no one seemed to want to leave. Then we went to a Jim Webb party that took very long to get into. It looked like the whole street was coming to the party. Once we got in, there was blasting music, lots of drinks, and booming laughter. It seemed nothing like the Jim Webb I saw on TV. I got to stand in the PRESS ONLY section with the news cameras, but we didn't stay for very long because of the constantly growing crowds.
After that, we rushed over to the Hyatt and went to yet another party, for Sherrod Brown, who is from Ohio. (When you're with Arianna, it is hard to walk around because everyone stops her to say, "Oh, I love your blog!'' or something.)
There was a slide show, lots of food and lots of senators. My mom talked to some firefighters from Ohio and then we went to another party but it was too late. Janitors were already sweeping the floors. So we decided to stop our wild rampage around Washington and have dinner at Café Milano. We met up with a few other people there and had dinner, although Arianna didn't eat and went back to her hotel to blog.
Finally, we rode back to Arianna's hotel with a very nice taxi driver and got our car to go home. I was glad I had skipped school that day to go with my mother on a reporting trip on people who could make the world better.