Pelosi's Recall of Congress in Nov. a Bad Omen?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated over the weekend that she has plans to recall Congress for a special session after the November election, supposedly to 'pass more economic stimulus legislation.'

And certainly this may be one item on the Speaker's agenda, no doubt.

However, there is a much more covert and ominous reason for the Speaker's unusual plan, and it has to do with the upcoming Presidential election.

Despite polls showing that Obama is still running ahead of McCain and winning the electoral vote outright, many observers of the electorate suggest a very close election--unusually close; so close in fact that we may end up with an Electoral College tie.

The Constitution makes it clear what happens at that point. In case of a tie, the election is thrown into the hands of the U.S. House of Representatives. The House then selects the next President.

We all know what this means. The Democrats control the House under Speaker Pelosi. Under normal conditions this would indicate that the Democratic candidate for President would be chosen by the House, in this case, Barack Obama.

Yet Democrats in the House are much more responsive to the wishes of their constituents back home than Senate Democrats. This means that there are many conservative-leaning Democrats in the House who cannot necessarily be counted upon to automatically vote for Barack Obama, should the House be forced to choose the next President.

There are roughly 90-100, possibly more, Democrats in the House who have defied Pelosi's leadership and voted with Republicans on some key issues. These conservative Democrats could be persuaded to join with Republicans to elect John McCain, in the best-case scenario...that is, unless they cave to Pelosi's strong-arm tactics.

And make no mistake about it, she will not hesitate to bring out the whips to keep the underlings in line.

And thus, it could well be that Pelosi's announcement of a special session of Congress in November, after the Presidential election, is a signal that she is preparing for all of the possibilities, including the responsibility of presiding over the election of the next President.