Posted on 01/10/2017 4:36:06 AM PST by CharlesOConnell
They did not vote for Ryan “because they agree with him” imo. The various House Republican “tribes” aka caucuses settled on Ryan as the least worst choice, as their preferred candidates couldn’t win a simple majority vote.
I doubt Cook’s factored in the “pride” a district’s voters feel when their rep is Speaker. Speaker Newt was our rep until GA Dems gerrymanded us into Cynthia McKinney’s new octopus shaped district. SCOTUS saved us several years later and put us back with Newt.
I’m pretty sure that they don’t even factor in incumbency, and incumbency itself is enough to make many incumbents close to invincible in many circumstances. But this is something that every candidate for speaker would have, and every speaker would get a bonus for being speaker, so it doesn’t follow that they picked him because he was from a safe district—if anything, picking him ensured that his distric would be safe.
Making Ryno the Speaker eliminates his liberal vote. Aside from a ceremonial opening of the session and following Roberts Rule of Order, he has no power. This is the perfect position for him.
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