After Another Failed Vote, McCarthy's Speaker Bid Is Starting to Look Pathetic  —  Just two months ago, when Republicans underperformed historical trends in the midterm elections and a bunch of extremist candidates lost winnable races, the consensus view among many commentators …

Never Trumpers Understood Kevin McCarthy's Conference Better Than He Did  —  Who could possibly have predicted that the leopards would eat My Kevin's face, too?  —  For years Kevin McCarthy, a blow-dried, donor-class Republican, has tried to maintain a hold on his increasingly bedraggled …

Speaker Fight Reveals a Divided and Disoriented House Majority  —  In failing to coalesce around Kevin McCarthy for speaker, Republicans showcased divisions that portend real difficulties in governing.  —  WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday began their new majority rule with a chaotic …

Biden world both humored and terrified by McCarthy meltdown  —  Staff throughout the West Wing wouldn't cop to watching live coverage of Rep. Kevin McCarthy failing to get enough votes to become speaker of the House.  But, to a person, they were more than aware of the fiasco that was unfolding …

What happens if there's no House speaker  —  The longest House speaker election in history spanned two months and took 133 ballots — providing a warning sign for the 118th Congress. … - Members of the 118th Congress can't be sworn in, the House can't set rules to govern itself …

Kevin McCarthy's bid for House speaker: Live updates  —  For the first time in more than a century, the House was unable to elect a speaker after three ballots.  The chamber adjourned until Wednesday at noon. … Rep.-elect Robert Garcia, D-Calif., whose swearing in to Congress …

Kevin McCarthy's Loyalty to Trump Got Him Nothing  —  High-level politics is fundamentally about dealmaking.  You can't succeed as anything more than a back-bencher if you aren't willing to make a deal with almost anyone on almost anything.  In Faust, a deal with the devil is fatal; on Capitol Hill, it's how you survive.

Kevin McCarthy faces open GOP revolt as House fails to elect speaker  —  The House will come back into session Wednesday after McCarthy's bid was thwarted on three ballots on the first day of the new Congress  —  Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) faced open revolt in the House chamber Tuesday …

POLITICO Playbook: How long can McCarthy hang on?  —  Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  So how does this end?  And how long will it take to end it?  —  Those are the questions towering over the new House Republican majority …

1/4/23 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM … THE HOUSE WILL GAVEL IN AT NOON.  IF THERE'S BEEN PROGRESS TOWARD A DEAL, GOP LEADERS WILL MOVE FOR ANOTHER VOTE FOR SPEAKER.  IF NOT, THEY WILL NEED TO TRY TO ADJOURN AGAIN UNTIL LATER IN THE DAY OR EVEN THURSDAY.

Karl Rove: House speaker saga is an ‘unmitigated disaster’ for Republicans  —  Former White House adviser Karl Rove predicted that the inability of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to secure the speakership is likely just the beginning of the chaos.  —  McCarthy's worst fears came true Tuesday …