Nancy Pelosi Raising Cash for Wisconsin Labor Fight

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House and a well-known rainmaker for her party, is lending her fundraising prowess to the ongoing labor battles in Wisconsin, where the Republican governor threatens to eliminate public workers' collective bargaining rights.

On Thursday, Gov. Scott Walker also ordered the arrests of 14 Democratic lawmakers who are on the lam to avoid voting on his budget bill.

Pelosi sent an e-mail to Democratic supporters nationwide Thursday, asking them to pledge as little as $5 to help fight what she called Walker's "reckless assault on the middle class."

"Karl Rove and the very same special interests that Republicans are voting to protect are planning a massive campaign to defend their radical agenda," Pelosi wrote. "This deserves an immediate response."

Pelosi said she was responding to the announcement this week that American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, conservative organizations were co-founded by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, are working to raise $120 million to spend against Democratic candidates before the 2012 election.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Crossroads GPS effort promised that the money raised would fight "the torrent of outside money from unions and left-leaning groups" that he said they would raise.

In turn, Pelosi said Democrats would mount a "rapid response campaign" to push the message of union workers in Wisconsin and protect their right to collectively bargain.

"I will always stand up for the right to organize. This basic right ensures the fair treatment of middle-class workers," she wrote. "Will you stand with me?"

By 6 p.m. on Thursday, Pelosi had raised nearly half of her one-day goal of $100,000.