Seekers of the House?

The freshman, a hard-charging Utah conservative named Jason Chaffetz, looked out at his new colleagues and said the first thing that came to his mind.

Chaffetz sees an impatience in himself and his friends that separates them from older members. “We’re the generation that demands and wants things right now,”

The House has a freshman class of 87 GOP members, whose most impassioned supporters — outspoken conservatives and tea party loyalists who have long voiced suspicions about Boehner’s passion for their causes — are poised to rebel against any deep compromises that Boehner might make on hot-button fiscal issues. The new members know they ignore those feverish supporters at their peril.

Those internal divisions among Republicans recently whipsawed Boehner during the fierce battle over federal spending cuts, a drama played out during a desperate eleventh-hour effort to approve funding necessary to avert a government shutdown. Publicly, the struggle was cast as a high-stakes game of chicken with Senate Democrats and the Obama White House,

Privately, the more dangerous battle was being fought among Republicans. Boehner had reason for fresh concern about his status as party leader, after a quarter of the Republican conference abandoned him on the issue of compromising at $38 billion.

But Boehner was still standing. It was another reminder that, for the moment at least, Boehner still has the buy-ins he needs, with a grip on the levers that matter most.

“He does it, and you aren’t even aware he’s doing it, until it’s done,” Chaffetz says. “Maybe it’s just that he knows how this place works. Anybody who’s underestimated him has already paid for it.”

This was an "interesting" article, but it drips with liberal bias. You can see it in the descriptive words the author uses, like "grip" instead of "grasp", "feverish supporters" instead of say "ardent".

I don't remember ever reading a story about any democrats wanting to replace Nancy Pelosi, even though I'm sure there were people with the same political ambitions as the article suggests republicans have.

Tons of dems have wanted to dump her/replace her. She has an iron grip. Rahm Emanuel tried and failed, and her current deputy (I forgot his name) also wants her job, not to mention, the black cauces has wanted one of their own to take her job, though they are the backbone of her support.

Trent Dilfer is another one who openly wants her job (he actually ran against her, and Congresswoman Giffords, before being shot, voted for him).

Its actually pretty stunning that she has held the job, alot of the dems who left and or retired have pretty much nothing but negative things to say about her.

Its also, overwhelming clear, that Obama would love to replace her too, they embarrassed her early in the term, IIRC, they wanted another chicago politician to take her job, and after the midterms, behind the scenes tried to push for it, but failed.

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