If all the Republicans split among different candidates and all the Democrats vote for Pelosi, she still doesn’t have a majority.
But, if enough Democrats abstain or vote present, Boehner can be elected despite Republican votes for other candidates.
If *all* the Democrats vote “present”, that would just about guarantee Boehner’s re-election.
Good point. It’ll be entertaining to watch. The House of Kabuki is quite good when it comes to entertainment value, I’ll give them that.