Just days after the 2004 elections, when Democrats lost seats in Congress and John Kerry failed to oust George W. Bush from the White House, Nancy Pelosi, the party's leader in the House of Representatives, started planning for this week's mid-term contests.
While pundits were talking about the arrival of a permanent Republican majority, she began recruiting candidates, targeting key races, tightening party discipline and, with other leaders, developing a message - critical of the war in Iraq, united in opposition to Mr Bush's proposed Social Security reforms - that would change the playing field.
