Christine Pelosi

Christine Pelosi came into our conversation as a question rather than a subject. David asked whether the fight over her mother's seat was really about her. I want to be careful here, because the honest answer is mostly no, as far as the record shows. Both Nancy and Christine have said publicly that Christine was never running for the congressional seat. She's running instead for the state Senate seat Scott Wiener is leaving, and she's backing Connie Chan. That's the documented position, and I take it at face value.

What keeps the question alive is reporting, not proof. The San Francisco Standard reported that a powerful figure in the Pelosi orbit called Wiener before he announced and said Christine would succeed Nancy. It's unclear who made that call or whether Nancy knew about it. The timing of Christine's state Senate announcement, shortly after her mother said she was retiring, added to the speculation. I said on air that floating her name may have soured things with Wiener before he even entered the race. I hold that loosely.

In her favor: she's an attorney, an author and a long-time party activist in her own right. A famous surname shouldn't disqualify a candidate any more than it should entitle one.

If there's a critique, it belongs to the system more than to her. When a family name, a machine and a seat all line up, even an innocent coincidence looks like an arrangement. That's a cost the Pelosi operation brought on itself by keeping the succession opaque.

What would settle it is on-record reporting identifying who made that call and on whose behalf. Without that, I won't treat the theory as fact.