Nancy Pelosi has had a rough few weeks as Speaker of the House. She doesn’t seem to remember whether or not the CIA told her about enhanced interrogation techniques, and now blames the whole incident on the Bush Administration and a lying staff of CIA officers. The bad press surrounding this scandal hasn’t helped her approval ratings, as only 39% of Americans approve of the job she is doing as Speaker a low that Newt Gingrich experienced himself when he faced some trouble as Speaker in the late 90’s.

Nearly half of all Americans — 48 percent — disapprove of how the California Democrat is handling her job as Speaker of the House in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday, while 39 percent approve of her performance.

That rating makes her less popular than other members of her party — congressional Democrats drew a 51 percent approval rating…

Couple this with the news earlier today about Americans now being evenly divided among the parties, and hey, things are looking a little rosier for the GOP these days. With approval numbers this low and a scandal of deepening interest, look for Republicans to use Pelosi as a lightning rod for campaigns across the country in 2010. Democrats used Newt for this purpose, and have been masters at the “Blame Bush” mantra for the last eight years to great effect in the voting booth. Perhaps the GOP can begin returning the favor in 2010.