The Note: Cram Time for Democrats

May 21, 2007— -- Like college students pulling all-nighters, nothing forces Congress into action like looming deadlines. And this is the week where we will finally learn whether Democratic leaders pass Politics 101.

Consider House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., pre-Memorial Day to-do list: Pass a war-funding bill without sparking a revolt from the left; keep her caucus just non-committal enough to give the immigration bill the oxygen it needs to survive the Senate; and keep her one-time choice for majority leader from being reprimanded on the House floor.

That's some serious political craftsmanship for the speaker and her allies to pull off. Considering the track record -- we're still waiting for the leaders of the (not-so-new) Congress to get something substantive signed into law -- there's little reason to expect big breakthroughs. And Pelosi certainly didn't sound like she's in the mood for compromise yesterday on ABC's "This Week": "When it comes to the war in Iraq, the president has a tin ear. . . . If the president says, 'No accountability; I want a blank check with a war without end,' we'll have to oppose that."

Pelosi may have public opinion on her side, but President Bush still has the votes on his, a point reiterated on "This Week" by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, who offered Pelosi a quick civics lesson on the powers enjoyed by the minority party. "What the speaker needs to do is understand that there are two houses," McConnell said. That leaves a handful of Republican lawmakers in choice spots this week, and will test the political dexterity of Democrats who are anxious to show accomplishments -- and end the war.

As we ease into Memorial Day with record gas prices (watch for more Republican noise on that front), the latest 2008 storyline is being generated by a Des Moines Register poll published over the weekend. Coming off a strong opening debate performance and some early advertising, former governor Mitt Romney, R-Mass., "sprinted ahead" in Iowa with a 12-point lead in Iowa over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former mayor Rudolph Giuliani, R-N.Y., writes the Register's Jonathan Roos. LINK

It's tighter on the Democratic side, but former senator John Edwards, D-N.C., is shown to be holding an edge over Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. (third-place!), and Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M (welcome to the double digits). LINK