Pelosi emerged from the room beaming her clenched-teeth grin, and a cheer went up from behind her. Before the bank of TV cameras that had been set up, Bonior handed her the big, black leather whip that had hung in his office. It was thick and ugly, a gleaming, braided snake coiled into a lasso-like circle. Pelosi clutched it with both hands as she faced the assembled media. For the first time, she was a leader of her party in the House. For the first time, a woman had cracked the ranks of the top leadership of Congress.
