Upset in Republican Majority Leader Election

The election for a new majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives was held today, as many pundits viewed it as being one of the first key races of the year. The election was won by Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as he upset the front-runner, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, in the second round of voting by a vote of 122 to 109. The election for a new majority leader is voted on not by regular citizens, but by congressmen of the majority party, which in this case was the Republicans. The new leader is taking the place of former majority leader Rep. Tom DeLay, who has been plagued by scandal in recent months. I thought an upset might have been possible, but I also thought Rep. Roy Blunt would win in the end seeing as how he's the current majority whip, the third highest leadership position in the House. I suppose there was enough support among Republicans for change, as the series of scandals in Washington have really hurt the Republicans image.

I wish we could see how each congressman voted, but unfortunately these races are done by secret ballot. In terms of the vote totals, Blunt came out strong in the first round with a total of 110 votes to Boehner's 79 and Shadegg's 40, but that number was short of the necessary majority of 117 votes to win the election outright. Since Shadegg dropped out after the first round, it's likely that all of his supporters shifted to Boehner in the second round, ensuring the upset victory.
I read too that Boehner and Shadegg sat next to each other during Tuesday night's State of the Union address, which shows indication that they formed a coalition to defeat Blunt. I would have felt so bad if I were Mr. Blunt today. His 110 votes in the first round was just 7 short necessary for victory, and when it came to the second round, he couldn't find any more colleagues to support him, not anyone, and he even a lost a vote in the process! It's almost as if his momentum just crashed into an insurmountable mountain. This election reminded me of the Super Bowl where the player was tackled one yard short of a touchdown at the end of the game. In this case, it was a few votes short and the preventive tackle was made by the team of Boehner and Blunt. Anyway, Mr. Boehner faces an uphill battle in changing the image of his party and getting new legislation passed, but we'll see how he does.