the meetings resuming at 1:00 eastern. scott wong with "the hill." senior staff writer covering leadership. follow his reporting on twitter this afternoon. thanks so much. talk to you later. reporter: thank you. host: again, hakeem jeffries, congressman from new york, three-term congressman, elected by the democratic caucus as the chair of that caucus for the 116th congress. but his job begins this afternoon, within a half an hour, as they resume deliberations and take up the speaker designee nomination and that is likely to be the likely outcome is nancy pelosi winning that. we'll have coverage of that as results are available and more once they resume their discussions this afternoon. all of the other leadership positions to be elected as well. we'll stay on top of that. with the house returning this afternoon, later at 4:30 eastern. we'll have live coverage of that too. we have covered a number of events through the years with nancy pelosi obviously. going back to before she became

speaker. in 2008 there was a conversation with her on our q&a program. >> why did you call your book know your power? ms. pelosi: know your power is a phrase that a great congresswoman used to me long before i came to congress. i was telling her that i had all these honors. i was chair of the host committee of the 1984 convention and i was chair of the delegate selection committee, compliance committee, and this and that. i said, i think i have too many honors. i should pass one of them on to someone else. she said, darling, no man would have ever said that. know your power. but actually she said, know thy power. >> where did she get that, do you think? ms. pelosi: i don't know. she was the source of many words of wisdom to those of us who served with her in the congress. this was previous to my coming to congress.

but she was a friend of my family and i was talking to her in the time leading up to the democratic convention in california in 1984. in san francisco. >> on the know your power question, it goes, and then it leads right to your first ever national political effort. you said was in maryland for jerry brown. ms. pelosi: yes. >> why? what was that all about? ms. pelosi: in 1976, jerry brown, our new governor of california, new, charismatic, young governor, decided that he wanted to run for president. he was getting all kinds of attention for small is beautiful and fiscal responsibility. and he decided he wanted to run. i thought our prime area in california was -- our california primary was in june. i thought, by the time june came around, it would be all over. so, it so happened that the maryland secretary of state had declared that any candidate who is a recognized candidate in any other state informant union

would be on the ballot -- in the union would be on the ballot in maryland, unless they chose to take their name off the ballot. i called mccarthy, my friend whombings the chair of jerry brown's campaign, and i said, we should go to maryland. jerry agreed. we did. that's really how i went from kitchen to more involvement in the democratic party. brian: what happened in maryland? ms. pelosi: in maryland it was a remarkable campaign. really quite similar to the obama campaign in that thousands of people came out. mostly young people, to hear his message. we would have to keep getting ever-larger venues to accommodate the crowds that turned out for him. and even though we got into the campaign three weeks before the primary, he won the popular vote in maryland. popular vote didn't amount to delegates to the convention. but it was a victory and jerry brown -- we went back to california to welcome him back,

at the begin welcoming party he stood up and declared that nancy pelosi was the arc tect of his maryland campaign -- architect of his maryland campaign. my father was a former mayor. my brother was a former mayor of baltimore. we had many contacts in maryland. the county executive had an organization and that was the beginning of the campaign. and then many others. of course many others joined in and jerry brown was magnificent and so anyway, that was my transition. brian: why did you have the subtilte in this book, a message to america's daughters? ms. pelosi: it goes with the title. know your power. that's my message to america's daughters. and then some elaboration of that throughout the book. i really want women to know their power. to value their experience. to understand that nothing has been more wholesome in the political process than the increased involvement of women. but it doesn't matter if your

interest is politics or academia or the corporate world or whatever. being at home and raising your family, the most challenging task of all, whatever it is, understand what you bring to the table is unique and authentic and real. and that, again, the more women who participate, the more wholesome the process and that is a very good thing for our country, i believe. brian: five children. we know alexandria. who is the oldest? ms. pelosi: five children. nancy karine is the oldest. four of my five children were born in manhattan. christine. christine has written a book called "campaign boot camp" and she's on the circuit as well now with her book. next is my daughter jacqueline, who lives in texas. she has three little boys. nancy karine has two children. she lives in arizona. our son, paul, who lives in california.

and then the only child born in california is alexandra. and she lives now in new york with her husband and her two babies. brian: what does nancy karine do? ms. pelosi: she's a sweetheart. she's in the hospitality. she has two children. that's her main occupation. raising her family. a little boy, alexander, 11, and her daughter, madeline, who is 9. and she is in the hospitality business. she loves people. it's no wonder that she is. brian: what part of california? ms. pelosi: she lives in texas. i'm sorry, did i say california? she lives -- i'm sorry. nancy karine lives in arizona in scottsdale, arizona. see, my husband and i when we had our five children and they were grown, we thought we were entitled to grandchildren. and so we were just expecting this to happen. of course nothing was happening. and then we kept begging, bribing, cajoling, anything, threatening to adopt our own grandchildren. finally, we got some

grandchildren. three in texas, two in arizona and two in new york. but we forgot to pray that they live down the street. but we're grateful to have them, whatever it is. so nancy karine is in the hospitality business and she lives in arizona. brian: what does christine do? ms. pelosi: she's married and has a step-son. she lives in san francisco. er husband, peter. christine is our -- of my children, the most politically interested and active. she's an attorney. she served in the clinton administration. especially counsel at h.u.d. she worked for a while, waiting for the gore administration and then the kerry administration. now she's back home in california and she is -- has just written a book called "campaign boot camp" which has the lessons that you should learn in order to be effective in the management of a political campaign. and therefore any campaign that

you embark upon. so she's frequently called upon in tv commentary for her expertise. she's a member of the democratic national committee. and she runs these boot camps to train candidates and future leaders. brian: what's her last name? ms. pelosi: her name is christine pelosi. her husband's name is kaufman. jacqueline lives in houston, texas. she has three little boys. 11, 9 and 7. liam, sean and ryan. they're adorable. as all grandchildren are. and she has a school called art makes learning center. nd she teaches art and creative art. in a very beautiful way. she likes -- it's called art mix. because she likes to have in

the mix teaching children with special needs but she likes them in the mix. so she has art mix learning center in houston, texas. brian: paul jr. ms. pelosi: paul jr. is at home. he has no children. he's not married. he lives -- not at home. but he lives in san francisco. paul is a lawyer and he works in finance. and one day hopefully he'll get married but of course that's none of my business. and then alexandra lives in new york. my kids -- christine, for example, she's a complete a.f.c. i had sports fan. she loves politics and sports. she knows every stat of every sport you can imagine. paul's very much up there with her too in the love of sports. brian: stories, with the system we have now, the stories, various ones, say your husband, paul, you as a family, one of the richest people in the house of representatives.

i've seen the story that says $25 million, won $16 million, what's he do? how did he make all that money? ms. pelosi: paul is a businessman. when we married shortly after college, he worked in new york at a bank in new york, which is now citibank. in those days it was called first national citibank. it was that long ago. he has his own company in california. when we moved from new york back home for paul, who is native born and raised in san francisco, he came to work for another company and then he formed his own company. they do investments in real state and other investments. i think somebody should be done about those ranges because the ranges are very far. your children could get the -- g impression, once brian: why? ms. pelosi: i don't know.

it should be changed. it should say, your home is between -- not your own home that you live in, that doesn't count. but say you have a second home or -- between one $1 million and $5 million. that's a big difference. then you have two or three of those and you have a very big range. it could be much closer to the lower. but the same thing right down the line. i think it should be changed to be if there's a purpose to this and i think there is, to be more reflective of what the assets and liabilities are. unless your children get the wrong impression about what's in store. brian: why did you do this book? ms. pelosi: i did the book because so many people asked me how did you get from the kitchen to the congress? how did you go from being a home maker to a house speaker? i thought, let me write it in my own words, in a way that values what i did as a mom so, that other women will too. brian: how did you go about it?

on the cover it says with amy hill herth. ms. pelosi: yes. first they told me i should dictate my story. which i did. but it was like 1,100 pages long. so amy helped me condense all of this down to something that was more readable and serviceable in terms of a book. she was wonderful to work with. brian: 1,100. 180 ook only -- it's pages long. ms. pelosi: i'm saving some of it for another time. we just didn't boil everything down to this book. we took some things, took some things out and just focused on the message part of it. brian: when did you do that? ms. pelosi: late at night and early in the morning. that's by and large what it is. i kind of miss doing that late at night and early in the morning. it was a real discipline to do it. brian: over what period of time did you do it? ms. pelosi: when i did the dictation, with a recorder, and with another person, jim cap

land, who helped me -- asked me some questions that i then dictated to, i did that like last august and september. then we went back into session. we were out of session, i could do more then. we went back into session. so we tried to prioritize some of that information. but probably after christmas i started to think, this is the form that i wanted the book to take. the first part of the year we finished that up. it takes a while. between when you finish the book and when the book comes out, i'm learning. brian: took a bunch of notes on some of the things i read. i want to ask you to expand on them a little bit. the one word i read several times from your book is the word fate and you wrote growing up catholic had an enormous impact on me. greater, i am certain, than growing up in a political family. why?

ms. pelosi: well, i think it's self-evident. i make that statement because everybody knows that i grew up in a political family. but faith was a very -- is and has been a very important part of my family life growing up. and now. it informs my decision making, my value system, and my sense of responsibility to the community. and it is a joy in my life. brian: where did you get the faith? ms. pelosi: from my parents. and from the nuns and -- in school. i went to catholic school throughout my whole academic life. in fact, my children -- my husband and i and our children in my own family now have over 100 years of catholic education among us. t in my case growing up, i lived in a very catholic neighborhood. an italian american neighborhood in baltimore, maryland. i like to say that i was

christened in the catholic church, but we had a catholic church, the democratic party, our italian american heritage, of which we were very, very proud. and a deep patriotism for a love of country. of america. so, in some order, we have all of that. brian: you said also, i told them, meaning the democratic caucus when you spoke to them, my parents didn't raise me to be speaker, they raised me to be holy. ms. pelosi: that was quite spontaneous because when i went up to the -- when i was nominated, mind you, this is one week after the election. we're still counting votes in some of the districts. i was so still sort of in my work mode of finishing off the election. but we had the organization -- organizing, which meant they would -- the democrats would nominate their candidate for speaker of the house. being in the majority, that's our prerogative.

so, when i was nominated by my colleagues, i was going up to thank them for it. and on the way there, the chair of the caucus, rahm emanuel, leaned over to congratulate me, and he said, your parents would be so proud. and it was a stunning moment or me because i thought, nye parents are proud, they're proud of me. it just struck me. and so when i took the microphone, i said, rahm just said my parents would be so proud. but they really never raised me to be speaker. so there would be no disappointment if i were not. but they did raise me to be holy. and that was really what our orientation was, in that era of growing up in a very devout catholic home, italian american neighborhood, close to the church. going to catholic schools. so i guess they want me to be a holy speaker, to carry that

faith into the position that -- into the office of the speaker. which i certainly hope that i do. brian: again, i found this quote. many of my friends were drawn follow ticks by the calling of their -- politics by the calling of their faith and the words of the bible. ms. pelosi: this is true. many of the people that i know who are involved in politics were motivated by their faith. whatever that faith may be. bible, koran, whatever it may be. and i think that that is so. the principles of love thy neighbor, do unto others, these are all principles that if we all lived by them, i think the world would be a better place. the bible mentions the word poverty over 2,000 times. and our responsibilities there. the gospel of matthew, in terms of when i was hungry, you gave me to eat. tending, ministering to, as the bible says, the least of our brethren. and value that we play on god's

creation. so the environment, whether -- respect for the spark of divinity that exists in every person, that's what i believe and that's what i see. in every person. whether i grew -- agree with them or not. and also the respect for god's creation in terms of preserving the environment. many other manifestations of faith in public policy. brian: let me ask you, because you watched this debate over the last couple of years, about the muslim world and all. if you had written this book and in fact you were a muslim and you were the speaker of the house of america here, the united states, and you said, growing up muslim meant an e-- had an enormous impact on me. greater, i am certain, than growing up in a political family. what do you think the reaction would be, given the attitude of the american people? would they accept it? ms. pelosi: i think a person's faith is probably more central to who they are than the

occupation of their family or their parents. so i think that's really almost a given. that a person's faith is more important than whether their parents practiced medicine or were involved in politics or whatever it is. i would hope that the american people would accept whatever person's beliefs are, if they're sincere beliefs. that's what i would hope. of course it's easy for me to talk about being raised roman catholic, because so many people in our country have shared that experience. but i think that if that were my faith, if i were muslim, i would want to complain to them why that was the case -- explain to them why that was the case. brian: if you look at this debate that's being going on with barack obama, people have been on the internet saying he's a muslim, as if that is a crime. i wonder, what does that say

about us as people, that they automatically equate that with something wrong? ms. pelosi: i hope they don't. you know, in america there are more muslims than there are emiss can palians. and i find that to be interesting. there have been for a long time in now -- time now. a number of years. they're very much a part of many communities in our country. i think those of us who profess faith and the respect we have for our own faith should respect the faith of others as well. brian: how -- we watched also candidates like john kerry and rudy giuliani be criticized or be ostracized, i don't know what the word is, by the catholic church for their positions on abortion as it relates to whether they can go up and take commune on. you're very outspoken on that whole issue.

does the church give you any difficulty? ms. pelosi: not really. but i think some of it is regional it. depends op on the bishop in a certain region. fortunately for me, it has not communion has not been with held. that would be a severe blow to me if that was the case. in church this past sunday, in alifornia, they gave out catholics in the ballot box or something like that and it talked about a range of issue. care for the poor, protection of the environment. stopping disarmament. including issues that related euthanasia and stem cell research. there are some areas where we were in agreement and some areas where we were not. one being a woman's right to choose. the other being stem cell research. brian: should the church get into the politics of this? ms. pelosi: i think churches have their limitations.

cause of their 501-c-3 status. but separate from that, in terms of the larger issue of church and state, i would hope that the church's involvement would be to, as they have helped us here on a number of issues, on budget, passing a budget that was humane, that addressed the needs of poor people in america, as they have been a voice in issues that relate to protecting the environment. we're working on the issue of preserving the planet and climate change. some of the most conservative evangelicals. because they view this planet as god's creation. god's a garden, as they refer to it. as do i. and that we have a moral responsibility to preserve it. and they also say that as we do that, we must do so in a way that is not harmful to the poor. so while we can talk about the differences of people of faith or the church in terms of one

issue or another, there are plenty of areas of common interest. brian: if your book you write, women were especially blessed with heightened intuition to decide or to advise. what does that mean? ms. pelosi: well, when i was in college, i learned, as we judge leaders, that there's a difference between deductive reasoning and intuitiveness. and as a legislator, it's ok to be a deductive thinker, that you conclude, you have time, you have hearings, you do this, you do that. but as a leader, you have to make a decision. and intuition counts a great deal for that. intuition that's based on your values, the knowledge that you have and the judge that -- judgment that you bring to it. so recognizing that an important quality of leadership is to trust your judgment, your intuition, and women are very

good at that, i think that that's just another asset that women bring to the table. brian: what have you learned about men since you've become speaker? ms. pelosi: since i've become speaker? brian: could you talk about the old bulls? here? you talk about reversing the old boy system and you say, we have done it. ms. pelosi: well, the minute i got the gavel, that changed a great deal. i used to say sometimes it was harder for a woman to become speaker of the house than to become president of the united states. because you see the enthusiasm for women, for a woman candidate. and other people, not just women, but men as well. but here this has been a, shall we say, a tradition-bound institution for over 200 years. and power is not anything that anybody gives away. you have to fight for it. but the minute you have the gavel, the signal is given and the men have been great.

brian: you have changed your mind on men at all since you've been speaker? is there anything you've observed, that you've had that office? ms. pelosi: when i saw -- you say, have i changed my mind? [laughter] i came into a family of six boys, one girl. one of my brothers passed away early. i was so raised in family of five boys and one girl. so i was not phased by being men and i think being raised in that atmosphere served me well when i came to congress. there were only maybe 20 bim when i came to congress -- women when i came to congress, out of 435. imagine. all men. t didn't seem appropriate in terms of the important decisions we had to make. one of my goals was to increase the number. we've quadrupled the number. but that's still not enough. i don't think there's anything as eloquent to your colleagues, where they're men or women, that you have the gavel.

so there's -- i don't want to say a change in behavior, but they respect the authority that the speaker has. if the democrats win the election in november until we fully intend to ensure happens. brian: the secret sauce club. what is that story? ms. pelosi: the secret sauce club. when i came here, again, it was a long time ago, 21 years ago, and you would always get this attitude of we'll take care of it, we know. it's not just in congress. this happens in many walks of life. happens in the political arena outside the congress as well. we know how to do this. and so somewhere along the line i thought, you know, they think they have the secret sauce. but they're not winning. so, i don't have any -- they

don't have any secret sauce or whatever they have, it's not working. and that was one of the things that motivated -- i had no intention of running for leadership. except that i was tired of losing. so the secret sauce is what i want to say to young women and women in general, this mystique that because somebody wears a suit and a tie and they have been around for a long time, means that they have some secret sauce that only they know the recipe for. it doesn't exist. trust your own judgment, you probably have a better idea. brian: if somebody would have seen you along with steny hoyer as interns in senator daniel brewster's office many years ago, would they have guessed that you'd end up being speaker from your own knowledge of yourself? ms. pelosi: no. i would never have guessed. i would never have guessed. i didn't have any interest in running for political office. i had experienced that. i had been -- when i was born, my fathers with a member of

congress from maryland. when i was in first grade, he was elected mayor of baltimore. when i went away to college, he was still mayor of baltimore. it was the only life i knew. so i thought that was fine for him, but that wasn't what i was interested in. just one thing led to another, as i raised my family and became interested in too issues and you find out, well, you need a political solution, so i got labor drawn back in and became chair of the california democratic party, which to me as following the jerry brown success in maryland. which for me was a tremendous honor. the biggest democratic party in the country, california, and i was the chair. i thought that was the ultimate onor. to go all a the way back to when we were 21 years old or whatever in brewster's office, i never would have suspected such a

thing. steny, but not me. >> you would have expected if you saw him at that age he would end up as one of the leaders? ms. pelosi: i thought he political life. when you are there you're not thinking who among us will be speaker of the house? >>dy have an intern about a week ago that he would be president of the united states and meant it. ms. pelosi: this generation has a lot of confidence, good for them. i hope when i was not in the leadership, i was a member of congress, i was introduced to --someone introduced me to his constituent. he said this is the congresswoman. maybe one day you, too, to this little girl, you, too, will be a congresswoman. we're anxious to see what you can be. she said not me i'm going to be president of the united states. i thought, you go, girl. she was about 9. >> when were you dating your husband he you to pick up some shirts. you put that in the book. what happened? did you pick him up?

ms. pelosi: no. it was a funny thing. we were having this conversation about the subject we were studying in school, korea, he popped in and i said i have to leave now. i'm going to take my laundry and pick them up, whatever it was. while you're there will you pick up my shirts? he gave me the ticket. i thought, well, i'm not going to act like a girl. if i were a guy, my girlfriends asked me i would. i put it in my pocket, totally forgot it. totally. and came back and said, gee, i thought hi more shirts than that. i totally forgot about your shirts. which is probably a good message to him. my friends were amused that i had not be so impressed by him i would pick up his shirts. when we were newlyweds he asked me to iron a shirt. i did not put it in a drure when we gave it to a bureau some

years later somebody said what's the shirt doing in this drawer? >> what was his reaction to this? ms. pelosi: where's my shirt? brian: did he a iron his own shirt? ms. pelosi: people make a living doing this and we should support them in doing that. brian: you never ironed a shirt of his in alt years you have been married, which is how long? ms. pelosi: maybe a shirt. i don't want -- don't think so. i don't think so. brian: i'll ask you this. would you allow him to iron one of your own blouses? ms. pelosi: i would never ask him that. of course -- i was more into the get it out of the dryer while it was hot and flatten it out school of pressing. >> former house speaker nancy pelosi. likely the next house speaker as well. just a little after 1:00 on the east coast. as the house democrats will resume their deliberation for leadership in the 116th congress. we're live on capitol hill. they have moved their meetings

over to the longworth house office building, directly across the street, across independence avenue from the capitol. those meetings should be getting under way shortly. we're there. standing by for reaction from members and others as the elections get under way. we're hearing news on potential -- on the potential vote in january. this sort of affects the january vote. this is from scott wong of the hill tweeting this. breaking, pelosi cuts a deal with the problem solvers caucus on house rules overhaul and takes a step closer to speakership. this is the reporting of mike lillis at the hill. here's what he's writing. nancy pelosi has cut a deal with the small group of democrats calling for major rules changes next year, according to two democratic sources familiar with discussions. it's a done deal, said one aide. nine democrats in the bipartisan 48-member problem solvers caucus had vowed to withhold their support for pelosi or any other speaker nominee unless the

candidate commits in write being to certain changes in house rules aimed at empowering rank-and-file lawmakers and breaking partisan gridlock. unveiled earlier in the year the combroup's rule package has 10 proposal designed to ease passage of popular bipartisan bill that in recent years have been ignored. that report interesting mike lillis at thehill.com. waiting to hear more from members as they gather for the elections. the speaker designee election scheduled to be next. all the other positions in leadership are set to happen this afternoon as well. republicans you may recall had their elections right after the midterm elections when the lame duck congress resumed their deliberations a week after the mid terms. just a short while ago, as they were breaking up, about a half-hour ago or so, we heard from the outgoing democratic caucus chair, joe crowley of new york. in the neighboring district,

hakim jefferies, also of new york, who represents brooklyn and queens, he was elected to the post for the 116th, beating barbara lee by a vote of 123 to 1 136789 we'll hear first from the outgoing chair, joe crowley, and then from hakim jefferies. mr. crowley: i want to congratulate my colleague, hakim heffries, on being elected the chair -- jefferies, on being elected for the chair of the demic caucus for the 116th congress. i know the country's in great hands, the caucus is in great hands with hakim. he's a wonderful gentleman from new york. one of the quickest wits in the house today. someone i know will do democrats proud as a wonderful, tremendous future ahead of him. i congratulate him. i also want to congratulate barbara lee having run such a wonderful campaign as well. it was a good race. i think the love for both was expressed in this vote. i congratulate them both,