A Redux Convention for Lady of the House

Sound familiar? It was 1984, and the woman who is now Speaker of the House and chair of this summer's national convention was getting an early and sometimes painful education in how delegate rules can breed party strife.

Back then Pelosi, a rising star and fundraising powerhouse in California politics, headed the Compliance Review Commission, tasked with enforcing party rules. She was also playing host to the convention in San Francisco, with her image and that of her city on the line.

This year Pelosi is toiling to keep her distance from the party disputes and her public neutrality in the increasingly intense fight between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, but she has much more at stake.

Bitter divisions threaten to keep Democrats at odds right up to their Denver gathering, potentially hurting the eventual presidential nominee and undercutting the chances of Democratic candidates nationwide.

A prolonged dispute over how to deal with Michigan and Florida which defied party rules to hold early contests and now face having their delegates shut out of the nominating process shows no signs of a quick conclusion.

Democrats also are divided over the proper role of superdelegates the elected officials and leaders who by party rules are free to support the candidate of their choice.

Clinton, who is ahead among the superdelegates, is counting on that edge to reverse Obama's lead among pledged delegates awarded through primaries and caucuses. Obama's camp argues in a view endorsed by Pelosi that the superdelegates should not overturn the will of the voters.

Alluding to her 1984 experience, Pelosi has happily punted questions about what to do about Michigan and Florida to Howard Dean, the party chairman.

"I learned more about delegate selection rules at that time, which I considered information that I would never use again in my life. And I had a really big dose of it then, and I'd like to leave it to those whose responsibility it is now," Pelosi said this month.