Kelly could run for Speaker post

They set the majority party’s legislative agenda in the House. With Boehner resigning, the party has no clear successor.

“He can do that now, and he doesn’t have to take aspirin every night”, Dresang said, referring to the rancor that has characterized the House Republicans’ internal politics.

But Ryan, a father of three young children, has rebuffed calls to seek the post.

Indeed, when House Speaker John Boehner addressed Republicans last week in a private meeting, he told his colleagues to “open your eyes, open your ears” and listen to what constituents had to say about their leadership problems during the weeklong recess, according to several lawmakers.

One of the challenges in electing the new Congressional leader is the Freedom Caucus, a group of lawmakers that absolutely refuse to cooperate with the Obama administration on any level.

COLE: I think it does.

“If you do it right, I think you can write your ticket” to your next political goal, said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va. “One of the things we have going on here is (Dobbins) Air Reserve Base”.

Many are bemoaning the “chaos” and “toxic crack-up” in the GOP after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (California) withdrew his candidacy for speaker.

There have been no formal discussions between the parties about the possibility of a coalition Speaker, and a few Democrats have dismissed the notion out of hand.

McCarthy just may not have been up to the task of being Speaker and that’s fine.

Since then, Democrats have generally played coy. Similar complaints were lobbed at the center-right majority leader. I’d certainly love to see him be speaker of the House. “But that’s really up to them”.

It’s amusing because if you look at Ryan’s record and his stated stand on the issues, you see it is Ryan who represents an extreme, radical minority within the Republican Party.

The whole situation has the potential to create a series of crises.

Unfortunately, gerrymandered congressional districts and the outsized role of money in politics are making it very hard to move government back to the middle. If you were the Speaker of the House, what national issues would you make your top priorities and why?

Ryan’s alleged sins include low conservative vote rankings from conservative pressure groups, support for immigration reform and generally being too tied to the current GOP leadership. Michael Coulter, a professor of humanities and political science at Grove City College, said he would be surprised if Kelly ultimately attains the speakership, but added that he agrees Kelly could appease both ideological conservatives and more pragmatic members of the party.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., is also still mulling a run for speaker, with no decisions made or announcements scheduled. “That would be helpful”.

This, of course, led many of us to ask an important question: who in the world is Ryan Zinke? Half want someone more conservative than Boehner. “I’ve always argued there should be more people in the race not less”. “He’d be unshackled in many ways”. The outgoing Speaker, John Boehner, a chain-smoking Republican from Ohio, will be entitled to a million dollars a year, for five years, to “facilitate the administration, settlement and conclusion of matters pertaining to” his five-year tenure.

“Boehner could be here for awhile”.

“The irony of the whole situation is this: The people who wanted to take John Boehner down are now getting exactly what they didn’t want: John Boehner”.