Nancy Pelosi works to get back the gavel, a district at a time

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Nancy Pelosi didn't take the loss of the House in 2010 as an excuse to stop fighting. In fact, she's been as energized as ever, working tirelessly to reclaim a Democratic majority in the House in 2012.

Since relinquishing the speaker's gavel 18 months ago, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hasn't spent any time wallowing in the loss. Many thought she'd stoically step aside ' as had her predecessors ' after her party suffered historic loses. Instead, she has ricocheted across the country raising nearly $60 million in a frenetic effort to get that gavel back.

It's less frenetic than it is calculated. Don't think for a minute that Pelosi is not aware of each and every race in which Democrats have a chance at being competitive, at the seats redistricting has left potentially friendly for Democrats.

'Going to my home state of California'in our Drive for 25 in California and the president's home state of Illinois and New York, Steve Israel's state, and then in the state of Texas, which is not going to go Democratic for the president but we have opportunity there, in those four states, we can get half the votes we need to get to 25,' she says. 'Then, you'll go to my native state of Maryland, we'll win one there.

'Onesy-twosies around the country, Washington state, Arizona, etc., we get to the high teens [in Democratic gains]. Then, we go where the president is. He's not been in any of these states yet'just raise money and take it to the battleground states, which is exactly what he should do. Then, we go to the battleground states'Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio'like that, and we think that then we go from the high teens into the high 20s, I would say, possible to get to my 35.'

Pelosi isn't content to just get the 25 seats to regain the majority'she's pushing for 35, with "onesy-twosies" around the country.

That's what Daily Kos is doing with our slate, still growing, of Orange to Blue candidates'from Washington to New Hampshire to Florida, we're committed to getting the gavel back to Leader Pelosi.

Help by donating $3 to any of our Orange to Blue candidates.