Novak: Pelosi Backs Emanuel for Senate

Robert Novak's column from yesterday says that Speaker Pelosi is privately talking up Rahm Emanuel as the next U.S. Senator from Illinois should Barack Obama win the presidency.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reported to be privately talking about Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, as the next senator from Illinois if Sen. Barack Obama wins the presidential election.

Emanuel told this column he is not interested in the Senate and has not talked to Pelosi about it. He also suggested that Pelosi might be saying she would regret losing him from her leadership team. However, the source quoting the speaker indicated she was enthusiastic about Emanuel's elevation to the Senate.

A footnote: The same source said Pelosi indicated that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer would be her eventual successor as speaker, even though she opposed his election to the second-ranking leadership position. Emanuel has been widely mentioned as the speaker of the next decade.

Although I'd be happy with a Senator Emanuel, I'd personally be happier if Gov. Blagojevich appoints Rep. Jan Schakowsky.  I think she'd make a fantastic United States Senator.  She is consistently rated one of the most progressive representatives in the House.

As a bonus, here's what Novak had to say about John McCain's disastrous June 3rd speech:

Sen. John McCain had just begun his speech from Kenner, La., on the year's last primary election night when distraught Republicans began e-mailing each other this message: Is it possible at this late hour for our presidential candidate to learn to read a TelePrompTer?

McCain's strategists, concerned that he has been out of the spotlight for months while Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton battled for the Democratic nomination, long ago planned to get some national attention Tuesday night. But McCain looked uncomfortable addressing a few hundred supporters at the dreary Pontchartrain Center in the New Orleans suburb.

In contrast, Obama's managers booked the huge Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., site of the Republican National Convention three months from now. The Democratic candidate showed off his oratorical skills before a big partisan audience.