SAN MATEO -- For Jackie Speier, the incumbent congresswoman representing much of the San Francisco Peninsula in CA-12, next Tuesday's election comes just a little more than six months after she won a special election to replace the late Congressman Tom Lantos.

From one perspective, this second election for Speier is more like an employer (in this case, the voters) deciding whether or not to take a new hire off probation.

While it's not a completely foregone conclusion that she will receive "permanent" job status, Speier is expected to easily win re-election to office over a handful of competing candidates including Republican Greg Conlon, Libertarian Kevin Peterson, Green Party candidate Barry Hermanson and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Nathalie Hrizi.

Speier's main competition for her seat is Conlon, of Atherton. While observers say that Conlon or the other candidates who have thrown their names into the mix aren't likely to have the kind of resources needed to oust her, Speier told PolitickerCA.com that she's not taking any chances.

"I think you run a campaign by running on your record and by connecting with the voters; I'm not going to do anything differently that I would if I was in tough race or an easy race; I'm going to do what I've always done which is stay connected with the people I represent and do my job," she said.

Not wanting to leave any doubt about her eagerness to keep her seat, Speier wasted little time getting started once she landed in Washington this spring.

In fact, Speier turned heads when just minutes after she was sworn-in on April 29 when she delivered a floor speech demanding the start of troop withdrawal from Iraq. Most freshmen members of Congress generally say they're glad to be there and then quickly fade into the woodwork as they begin the process of building seniority - the all-important currency of power underneath the Capitol dome.

Speier's speech saw Republican members boo loudly and walk off the floor in reaction.

While she may be a rookie in Washington, Speier is no amateur to politics. She spent 18 years in the California Legislature and before that six years on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

Speier's name was seared forever into Congressional history when in 1978 she traveled as an aide with U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan to Guyana on a fact-finding trip to the Rev. Jim Jones' People Temple compound. Ryan and five others were shot and killed during the mission. Speier was shot five times and survived a 22-hour delay before any rescue arrived.

"The voters of this district do not pay me to sit on my hands," Speier said in an interview earlier this year. "Besides, I have to dig in and get to work - it's who I am at heart."

Dig in indeed. Shortly after her unexpected first floor speech, Speier decided that she would launch legislation that would reduce the federal highway speed limit to save gasoline consumption and slow the nation's dependency on the importation of foreign oil.

Still, in car crazy California, the controversial bill might not be considered the most politically palatable or the kind of legislation that a new member of Congress would surprise her constituents with. But aside from some naysayers, Speier was pleasantly surprised by the support the bill got - which included the support of a major trucking industry association.

"I'm pretty much an open book. I call them as I see them. I was sitting on the House floor listening to this endless debate and hand-wringing about the price of gas at the pump. Frankly, solutions on both sides were not going to provide relief (at the gas pump) any time soon," Speier said.

"We spent two or three months looking at the idea of reducing the national speed law, and I knew it was not going to be popular but I don't feel that I was elected to be popular. I'm there to do something that will benefit the public. First of all -- especially in Southern California -- how often can you go 65 mph? Let's start there. Second, is it that big a deal if you get there six minutes late? It's a small price to pay to reduce our dependency on foreign oil."

And while gasoline prices have subsequently declined, Speier, like many Congressional Democrats, had to begrudgingly endorse limited domestic oil exploration when prices at the pump soared this summer.

Speier wants the oil companies to work on the 68 million acres in leased tracts first before moving to work other sites, particularly those off the California coastline.

When asked, Speier will tell you of her deep distrust of the oil companies, their intention to develop meaningful alternative sources of energy and the record profits they reaped coming off this year's second quarter. Moving the nation to an environment that is free or nearly free of the need to import foreign oil is a critical priority, she says.

"We have to move to alternative fuels -- I mean when T. Boone Pickens -- a famous oil man -- says that we can't drill ourselves out of this problem, what more do we need to convince us that we must find a new way," Speier said. She added that the nation must also quickly develop a meaningful wind and solar energy program as alternative fuels research and testing continues.

And, as a new member of the famed House Oversight Committee, Speier has only increased her profile. In recent weeks she has been seen on C-SPAN waking up her colleagues and sometimes the whole committee room with her uniquely direct method of interrogating sometimes reluctant witnesses.

Down deep, Speier knows what a special opportunity the voters of the peninsula have afforded her.

"Sometimes I will walk through the Capitol's Statuary Hall late at night and I'll stop just for a moment to admire the sculptures," Speier said. "It's at those moments when I'm reminded of both the burden and responsibility of my office but also of how lucky I am to have been given the chance to serve."