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From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

Bob Garfield is away this week. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Yep, the Democrats swept the midterm elections, and as the dust settles, talking points will be refined to suit the new realities in Washington, and political narratives will have to be rewritten. One of those politicians due for a rewrite, House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi.

Well, we have the first woman speaker in the history of the United States, Nancy Pelosi.

She is now in line, succession of the presidency.

No Congress has had in the 218-year history of the American legislature, a female speaker of the House.

The first woman ever to hold that responsibility.

Ed Epstein has been covering Nancy Pelosi for nearly two decades.

He joins us now from the Washington Bureau of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ed, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

So you've covered Pelosi for a long, long time, and you've no doubt gotten past all of the labels by now.

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