Pelosi gives Childers permission to run against her

Just like on the ObamaCare vote, Travis Childers has to wait until Democratic House Leadership - Nancy Pelosi - gives him permission to do the conservative thing. Now Travis Childers is running against Pelosi, but according to the New York Times, he apparently has "her blessing" to do so.

Biting the hand that feeds you is not always a successful strategy, but it underscores the stakes in the Nov. 2 elections. Many Democrats are doing whatever it takes to try to keep their majority.

And they apparently have Ms. Pelosi’s blessing.

“I just want them to win,” Ms. Pelosi said in a recent interview on “NewsHour” on PBS when asked about the defectors.

The number of defecting Democrats is hard to quantify since some, like Mr. Bright in Alabama and Representative Gene Taylor of Mississippi, have said flat out that they would not vote for Ms. Pelosi while others have only signaled that they might not.

Representative Travis W. Childers of Mississippi said he would “like to see someone more moderate” as speaker.

These Democrats are trying to run as quasi-Republicans, he said, but voters will not support them when real Republicans are on the ballot.

Many Democrats are now boasting about how often they vote with the Republicans. When his Republican challenger said that Mr. Taylor “chooses Nancy Pelosi over Mississippi,” Mr. Taylor said that of the 1,466 votes he had cast since January 2009, “Nancy Pelosi agreed with my vote 34 times,” or 2 percent of the time.