If Nancy Pelosi had listened to her mother she might be a nun today — or more likely a Reverend Mother — but instead she set her sights firmly on politics and is now the most powerful woman in American political history.

Swept into the most powerful political job ever held by a US woman, Nancy Pelosi embarked on a jubilant victory lap with children and grandchildren in tow and a soundtrack by Tony Bennett: I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”