The drama. The tension. The thrill of victory. The agony of f*cked up balloting.
The Hill obtained internal e-mails documenting the vote to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
From inside the Cannon Caucus Room on Thursday, House Republican lawmakers and aides traded scores of e-mails with colleagues, lobbyists and allies while electing Rep. John Boehner as their new majority leader and Rep. Adam Putnam as policy chairman.
Putnam? Who's he? Anyway, back to our story after the jump.
More than a half-dozen staffers and lobbyists--hey! who let them in here?--
shared e-mails with The Hill that were sent and received that day on the condition that the senders and the receivers remain anonymous. Well that's no fun.
Some of it is pretty mundane stuff:
12:23: Subject: Blunt's speakers
[Rep. Kay] Granger [R-Texas] led off, [Rep. Charlie] Norwood [R-Ga.] second, [Rep. Dave] Camp [R-Mich.] third.
12:25: Subject: [Ways and Means Chairman] Bill Thomas [R-Calif.] leads for Boehner.
12:26: Subject: Blunt's speakers
Theme was not inspiring. The old "can't change horses" in midstream [referring to Granger's speech].
I can't see why the old "can't change horses" in midstream speech didn't work for Blunt. It sure worked for Bush.
12:40: Just started leader voting.
12:43: Voting for leader.
12:56: Still counting.
But then...May Day! May Day! Danger Will Robinson! Houston, we have a problem.
1:01: Holy S*T more ballots cast than were members. Re-voting now.
1:01: *Re-vote!!!! More ballots than Members!!!!!!!!!!!
1:13: They are now saying it may have been a clerical error. No word on whether the first ballot is voided. We are in for a wild one.
A moment of high drama indeed. The tension mounts:
1:14: [GOP Conference Chairwoman Deborah] Pryce [R-Ohio] now saying there was a clerical error. Just said [she is] now trying to figure [out] which ballots to use.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) tells reporters that the vote of Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño [R-Puerto Rico] was not counted.
1:17: Pryce using a floor-voting list that did not have Luis Fortuno on it, which may be the problem. No word yet on which ballots they are using.
1:18 PM: Chairman Pryce has ruled first ballot valid, and members seem to agree.
1:19: Now entertaining parliamentary questions.
1:20: It was just announced that no one voted twice.
WOW. Amazing, given this is the party brought to you by Diebold.
There's even some math involved:
1:23: First ballot. The original one: Blunt 110, Boehner 79, Shadegg 40, [Rep. Jim] Ryun [R-Kan.] 2.
1:25: Shadegg just asked to drop out of second ballot. Here we go. ...
1:26: Maj. Leader Results: Jim Ryun's name is being dropped off. This is weird. So top 3 stay in. 231 voting. As long as we have write-ins we can be here awhile. Shadegg has just asked for his name to be dropped off. Standing ovation. We go to round two.
...
1:40: Subject: FW: Leadership update
Analysis of 1st vote: As Ryun was a public supporter of Shadegg, this may have been a move to break up 2nd ballot commitments. This may free up votes to move to Shadegg to the next round and try to survive over Boehner. Unlikely, but possible. All of this is bad news for Blunt. Odds are strongly against him winning.
And let's not forget the human touch:
At 1:46, an aide to Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) handed her an extra-large iced tea in a Styrofoam cup.
No word on whether it had lemon and if Rep. Emerson uses sugar, Equal, Sweet & Low, or Splenda in her iced tea.
It isn't much longer before we know the outcome:
1:49: Second ballot: Blunt 109, Boehner 122
1:49:58 : Boehner wins.
1:50 PM:Boehner wins with 122!!!!!!!
Hooray! It's back to business as usual for the hardworking lobbyists. My only question is: How long before this storyline shows up on "Commander in Chief"?