WASHINGTON — When Jane Harman left Congress in 1998 to run for governor of California, her colleague Nancy Pelosi threw her a party -- a chocolate-fudge sundae "social" in the House members' dining room.
Two years later, Harman hosted a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Pelosi when she was running for minority whip, raising $400,000.
These days the two rarely talk, much less throw parties for each other.
Their relationship has been deteriorating since Harman returned to the House in 2001, according to those who know them, and the tension now threatens to complicate Pelosi's role as House speaker when the 110th Congress convenes in January.
Pelosi indicated as early as last year that she intended to oust Harman from the Intelligence Committee -- where Harman expected to become chairwoman if Democrats won control of the House -- in favor of someone more to Pelosi's liking.
The move has created dissension within the party. Some Democrats and foreign policy experts argued that Harman, a centrist on national security, is the most credible person for the job. The Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses countered that it was time for one of their members on the committee to take the helm.
Fresh from Pelosi's fierce and unsuccessful lobbying effort to install antiwar ally John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania as her No. 2, the coming battle over the Intelligence Committee leadership is turning into a showdown where the political has turned personal. And it could undermine the unity that the Democratic Party has hoped to show as it prepares to take the reins of power.
The falling-out between Pelosi and Harman offers a window into how business gets done on Capitol Hill, where personal friendships are often as important as policies and politics. Pelosi in particular is noted for remembering who has been on her side and who hasn't, as evidenced by her support of Murtha for House majority leader over her one-time rival Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, even though Hoyer was widely preferred by the party caucus.
The prospect of conflict between two such powerful Democratic women is tantalizing to gossipy Washington. But the split is so toxic that Democrats in California and Washington won't go near it.
"I don't want to talk about it," said Roz Wyman, the doyenne of California Democratic fundraising and a friend of both.
Most people contacted for this article spoke only on condition of anonymity, not wanting to get on the wrong side of two formidable politicians.
