Electoral-vote.com I read this: 222 - 15 = 207, 11 shy of the 218 needed for McCarthy. Not one single Democrat is going to ever vote for McCarthy to be Speaker of the House. However... The bolded: I contacted real Washington insiders from both parties whom I have known for years, 1 of them since my High School years going back to the early 1980s, and the scuttlebutt is that this with Fred Upton (R-MI) is a real thing. In fact, the one source told me that for this suggestion of Fred Upton, she believes that 210 Ds are on board and at least 37 and maybe a maximum of 51 Rs are amenable to the idea, at least as a back-up plan should it come to a second ballot. 210 + 37 = 247 Fred Upton, a soon to be former Congressman, is considered a quite moderate among most folks and unlikely to ruffle feathers. I sincerely doubt that this would be real were it not so that ALL of my contacts, with whom I telephoned or skyped over the last 4 hours, all told me exactly the same thing. Of course, Donald Trump hates Fred Upton because he is not trumpy, which is all the more reason for Democrats to scheme to put this move into motion. They would far prefer a Democratic Speaker, but if that is not possible, they would nominate/support a sane Republican over a rabid one. Just as with our major parties' respective nominating conventions, if it comes to more than one ballot, than before each ballot, the names of the nominees must be put forth and seconded, usually with a minimal amount of debate time allowed - the usual, mostly boring parliamentary stuff. This means that each time, Kevin McCarthy's name must be placed into nomination and then seconded. Actually, for each ballot, more than 2 names can be placed into nomination, but in a two-party vise-grip control system as we have in the USA, usually only 2 names are placed into nomination. No doubt the Ds will place Hakeem Jeffries name into nomination for the 1st ballot, knowing full well that he will not get to 218. Tomorrow is going to be very interesting! I could easily live with Fred Upton as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Of course, the Rs could bolt and nominate Donald Trump to be Speaker, only I am not sure they would have the votes within their own ranks to get the orange fatso over the top. But it would be a possibility. -Stat
