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Well, to address some of FR poster Jack Black's points:

1.) The District of Columbia gets three electoral votes via the 23rd Amendment, but does not get a second bite at the apple when any Presidential election has to go to the House for resolution, as ONLY States voting as Delegations have a say at that point.

2.) The 'Quorum' problem you mention would not be one for two reasons. The first is that it would only take ONE Republican present to vote for his State if all the Democrats sat out the special session. In the current House of the 108th Congress there are 7 States which have NO Republican Representatives and there are 8 States with NO Democrats as Representatives. To prevent a quorum in this situation for the next House in the 109th Congress, there would have to be 26 State delegations with no Republicans, and if that condition were met, then the Democrats would control enough delegations to elect their own candidate. Secondly, there is NO other business before the House but electing a President. No other business may be taken up until there is a new President. I don't think that anyone would try to out wait the American public in that case.

3.) The current House of the 108th Congress would NOT be the one to witness the count the Electoral College votes for President, and if no majority was to be had then vote on a new President by State delegation. That duty would belong only to the newly elected House of the 109th Congress which is seated in January 6th of 2005.

4.) If a State delegation is 'tied', then it just votes 'present' during any Presidential voting in the House.

Below is a data table for the current House of the 108th Congress as of the date of this post. I would expect that Texas would move from a tie to solid Republican, for 31 Republican delegations. There may be some other shifts in the composition of some other State delegations, but I do not see the House of the 109th Congress having any fewer than the necessary 26 delegations necessary to re-elect President Bush if the House would have to make the choice.

US House - 108th Congress
by State
by Delegations

State	Republicans	Democrats	Independents	Total
Alabama	5	2	0	7
Alaska	1	0	0	1
Arizona	6	2	0	8
Arkansas	1	3	0	4
California	20	33	0	53
Colorado	5	2	0	7
Connecticut	3	2	0	5
Delaware	1	0	0	1
Florida	18	7	0	25
Georgia	8	5	0	13
Hawaii	0	2	0	2
Idaho	2	0	0	2
Illinois	10	9	0	19
Indiana	6	3	0	9
Iowa	4	1	0	5
Kansas	3	1	0	4
Kentucky	4	2	0	6
Louisiana	4	3	0	7
Maine	0	2	0	2
Maryland	2	6	0	8
Massachusetts	0	10	0	10
Michigan	9	6	0	15
Minnesota	4	4	0	8
Mississippi	2	2	0	4
Missouri	5	4	0	9
Montana	1	0	0	1
Nebraska	3	0	0	3
Nevada	2	1	0	3
New Hampshire	2	0	0	2
New Jersey	6	7	0	13
New Mexico	2	1	0	3
New York	10	19	0	29
North Carolina	7	6	0	13
North Dakota	0	1	0	1
Ohio	12	6	0	18
Oklahoma	4	1	0	5
Oregon	1	4	0	5
Pennsylvania	12	7	0	19
Rhode Island	0	2	0	2
South Carolina	4	2	0	6
South Dakota	0	1	0	1
Tennessee	4	5	0	9
Texas	16	16	0	32
Utah	2	1	0	3
Vermont	0	0	1	1
Virginia	8	3	0	11
Washington	3	6	0	9
West Virginia	1	2	0	3
Wisconsin	4	4	0	8
Wyoming	1	0	0	1
Total:	228	206	1	435

Delegations:	30	15	1	4
50	Republican	Democrat	Socialist	Tied


No Republicans	7
No Democrats		8
No Socialists			49
No Tied				46


Majority:	26

Source: Office of the Clerk, US House of Representatives OFFICIAL LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES

Hope this helps...

dvwjr