With a significantly expanded House majority, an ally in the White House and a strong political wind at her back, Pelosi (D-Calif.) will likely lead the lower chamber more aggressively in 2009.

Those days may be over.

With her newer and bigger majority, Pelosi is far less likely to suffer the losses she endured at the hands of a feisty House Republican minority, which kept vulnerable Democrats on edge about issues ranging from guns to gas prices to drilling.

Pelosi is regarded as a strong Speaker. She plays a role in every major decision in the House. But while she has made it clear to her committee chairmen that she is in charge of the lower chamber, Pelosi lost high-profile battles with President Bush on the Iraq war and the budget.

House Republicans also got their share of victories.

In March of last year, House Republicans delivered the Speaker a stinging defeat after they tied the D.C. voting rights legislation — a top priority for Pelosi — to a bill to lift the city's gun ban. Pelosi pulled the D.C. voting rights measure from the floor.

Over the summer, House Republicans indicated they would use the same procedural tactics to hitch legislation lifting the ban on offshore drilling to any Democratic energy bill. Pelosi avoided a vote for weeks by bringing up Democratic energy bills only under suspension of the rules, where they were subject to a two-thirds majority threshold but free from Republican attempts to sabotage them through the offering of alternatives calling for far more offshore drilling.

At the height of the gas crisis, Democrats initially remained stuck in neutral. Pelosi simply did not want to force her caucus to take a vote that could put the majority at risk.

In this Congress, Republicans passed 25 motions to recommit, or minority alternatives, by putting fear in the hearts of vulnerable Democrats. Over the 12-year span in which Democrats were the minority party, they won a total of just 14 motions to recommit. And House Republicans contend that their 25 victories would have been 30 if Democratic leaders didn't pull the underlying bills from the floor after sensing that defeat was at hand.

Democratic leadership aides, though, said that times are about to change.

“I don't think you¹ll need to worry about [motions to recommit] next year,” said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Pelosi.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Pelosi steered clear of suggesting that her larger majority would carry with it any changes to her leadership style, saying only that she simply expects Republicans to work with Democrats very closely on the “big issues,” namely, legislating toward an economic recovery.

“You have to govern from the center. You have to bring people together,” Pelosi said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), who ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cycle, was asked Wednesday about the prospects of being frustrated by a Democratic majority that includes more conservative members.

“On the core issues that were at stake in this election I think you’re going to find a lot of consensus among Democrats, and hopefully also among Republicans,” Van Hollen said. “But clearly we are a big-tent party, and when it comes to some social issues there are going to be different perspectives.”

Senior Democratic aides would not discuss for attribution how Pelosi plans to lead Democrats next year, but early signs are already pointing to a more aggressive strategy, focused more on pushing through their agenda and less on fretting about balancing the political vulnerabilities of a few of their members.

Pelosi spent October laying the foundation for quick implementation of a massive, $300 billion economic stimulus package that will dwarf the Democrats' previous attempts at stimulus legislation. And even though they are ratcheting down significantly the price tag and even the structure of the bill, Democrats are preparing to steamroll any Republicans who stand in their way.

Still, Pelosi may need to, and may be ready to, crack the whip to get tough votes through the chamber on the other big issues that don’t carry a wide mandate. If the political wind isn't strong enough, Pelosi is going to have little choice but to more forcefully exert her power if she wants to get any more votes than she got last year for the more liberal bills.

And in this regard, even the smaller Republican minority is committed to working just as hard to force votes on alternative bills that will put conservative Democrats in a box.

House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-Ohio) spokesman, Michael Steel, recently said it will be the newly elected Democrats who will be most closely watched as Republicans continue their tactics of forcing politically tough votes through motions to recommit.

"Members will still be responsible to their constituents for their vote," Steel said. "This will still be a tool for holding them accountable that won't go away."

And while Pelosi may now be ready for that fight, Democratic aides close to the Speaker said the momentum sweeping the country may dictate her aggressive leadership style for her.

A senior leadership aide said, "It certainly feels like we've still got a pretty good wind at our backs."