How Not to Topple the Speaker

“A group of House conservatives spent almost a year dreaming big about toppling Speaker John Boehner, but less than a day before the vote they still hadn’t found someone to replace him,” Politico reports.

“One promising candidate finally jumped in — but only at the last minute, not even telling his closest friend in Congress he was running.”

“The result was a vote Tuesday that ultimately yielded an ugly, controversial win for Boehner, with the most defections from his own party that any speaker had seen in decades. The Ohio Republican’s allies were left howling for revenge, and hopes of a big tea party victory once again went unfulfilled.”