Several endangered House Democrats think they may have found a way to escape voters' wrath in next month's midterm elections: run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Call them the anti-Pelosi Democrats who are openly opposing Pelosi for another term as speaker if their party can somehow maintain control of the House. Republicans are widely expected to make big gains in the Nov. 2 elections.
Two Democrats, Reps. Jim Marshall of Georgia and Bobby Bright of Alabama, have even taken out ads saying they won't support Pelosi in the next Congress.
Marshall told Fox News he's not running against Pelosi per se; just seeking to neutralize the resonant issue Republicans have created by tying all Democratic candidates to the California Democrat.
Yet Marshall still hedged when asked if he thinks Pelosi has been a "good" speaker.
"It's a real challenge when somebody comes from a district that is as liberal as Ms. Pelosi's district to govern from the middle, which is where we need people to be governing," he said.
Vulnerable first-timer Bobby Bright in Alabama is also pledging to oust Pelosi as speaker as are at least four other House Democrats , from New York to Oregon.
It's a survivalist tactic in a potential "wave" cycle whose atmospherics strongly favor the GOP. House Minority Leader John Boehner is poised to claim the gavel if Republicans capture the lower chamber.
But this sudden growth of weeds in Pelosi's own garden is also a measure of her unpopularity across the country, which stands in three national polls at 56 percent or higher.
"I think a lot of members want to prove their independence from leadership and I think there are a lot of voters right now looking for that," said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. "They don't want a rubber stamp."
State Sen. Roy Herron, a Democrat gunning for a House seat in rural Tennessee, told Fox News his jump aboard the anti-Pelosi bandwagon resulted in punishment from party leaders.
"The day that it was reported that I would not support either Speaker Pelosi or Mr. Boehner for speaker, it was announced that some of the TV ads that had previously been bought would not go forward," he said. "If that's the price of being independent, then it's a price I'm prepared to pay."
