House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stepped to the microphone at her weekly press conference, laid down the law to the Blue Dogs, warned Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) to get her affairs in order and fired a salvo at the president and vice president of the United States.

Pelosi sought to pin the blame on the administration for high gas prices at the Thursday event by noting that there are “two oil men” in the White House. While that charge was akin to an elbow in the face, her comments about the Blue Dogs and Richardson were much more subtle.

Here’s how she answered a question about Richardson’s mortgage foreclosure disclosures:
“Every member of Congress is responsible for living up to the highest ethical standard, to having the fullest disclosure of his or her assets, as is required by law,” Pelosi said.

The statement was a clear warning to get her finances in order, explained Pelosi’s aides. It’s not clear if it worked, though. When disclosures came out Monday, Richardson’s wasn’t there. She had gotten an extension.

Then Pelosi fielded one on whether to “pay for” a college tuition program for veterans with a tax increase, as the Blue Dog Coalition has demanded.

“I still hope that the GI Bill will be paid for, but whether it is or it isn’t, it is an investment in education, again, which increases the money in the till,” she said.

Which means, according to the translation, that she’d like it to be paid for too, but the Blue Dogs need to get over it. That message got through. Blue Dogs are now said to be ready to give in on their demand after the House passes the tax increase one more time.

“She sees it as a way to communicate, not only with the press, but with members as well,” a Pelosi aide explained.

An aide to another Democratic leader put it more bluntly.

“Things that go over the heads of reporters can still get to the right people,” the aide said. “It’s a ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ style of leadership.”

Each Thursday, Pelosi stands in front of a phalanx of flags in the cramped but ornate office just off the House floor. About 30 reporters and a bank of cameras cram in front of her. But her staff says that the reporters and their mass-media audiences aren’t the only ones they’re trying to reach.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Photo by Benjamin J. Myers

Last week, her opening statement was about unemployment insurance and energy. That’s when she made her “two oil men in the White House” remark, saying a barrel of oil costs four times more than it did when President Bush took office. She returned to the topic later in the briefing, saying, “And again, I say two oil men in the White House, $4-a-gallon gasoline.”

Pelosi didn’t deliver any major news until she took her first question. Asked about the emergency supplemental spending bill, which funds the Iraq war and provokes a continual fight with the White House, Pelosi called for it to be passed by the Independence Day recess.

Just because it wasn’t in her opening statement doesn’t mean it caught her by surprise. It’s Public Relations 101 for press secretaries to anticipate questions and prep their bosses.

Pelosi’s aides figure they can guess eight of the 10 questions she’ll be asked. They’ve learned the pattern. There’s the presidential campaign question from CNN, the congressional politics question from NBC, the business question from Bloomberg or Reuters, the “in-the-weeds” question from one of the Capitol Hill publications.

“She knew the Richardson question would come eventually,” the aide said, and her answer was ready. It was cordial — and frank.