McCarthy Drops Out

Kevin McCarthy is no longer running for Speaker of the House.  He dropped out of the race this morning.  The real question now is not why McCarthy pulled out.  That was clear; he managed to put his foot in his mouth about the Benghazi committee and it brought up doubts if he was the right person for the job.  No, the question now is who will step up to replace him as the main candidate for the post.  It's a sure thing that representative Daniel Webster who is already in the race will not move into the Speaker's role; he's just too extreme.  Jason Chaffetz is a possibility, but there's a good chance that McCarthy's allies will veto him.  Again, he may be too connected to the Tea Party segment of the caucus.  The next ranking Republican in the House leadership is Steve Scalise, but he will likely fail as well because of old controversies. 

The one person who could surely command the respect and the votes in the House to win is Paul Ryan from Wisconsin.  Ryan already said he would not run, but this latest development may change his mind.  Ryan doesn't want to leave the chairmanship of the Ways and Means committee.  He also does not want to spend all the time away from his family that his schedule as Speaker would require.

If Ryan doesn't accept, I think we may see a push for Trey Gowdy of South Carolina to move into the Speaker's position.  The down side to that move, however, would be that Gowdy would have to leave the chairmanship of the select committee on Benghazi.