Fixing the elections - Republican style

This is all over the blogosphere already, but I can't resist mentioning it:

House Republicans are taking a mulligan on the first ballot for Majority Leader. The first count showed more votes cast than Republicans present at the Conference meeting.

As many others have already noted, the Thuglicans' habit of fixing elections is so entrenched, they even try to fix their own elections.

Of course, the candidate who finally won was Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). One supposes they wanted a really clean candidate to take over from Tom DeLay and his K-Street cronies. So let's look into that:

Boehner formed his alliances on K Street when he served as chairman of the GOP conference from 1995 to 1998, when his portfolio included working with lobbyists on K Street.

“He was a policy traffic cop for the business community,” one of Boehner’s allies said. “When [former Rep. J.C.] Watts [Okla.] won [the election for conference chairman], DeLay, in the whip position, vacuumed in the policy and business outreach. He added staff and translated business outreach into votes, which is something [Missouri Rep.] Roy [Blunt] is doing now.”

Many GOP sources say Boehner would receive strong support from his so-called K Street Cabinet if he decides to run for another leadership post. He is considered a strong contender to become majority leader or speaker if DeLay, who is under indictment on charges of conspiracy and money laundering in Texas, does not return to his post or if Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) retires in 2008.

Really clean!

[A hat tip to Daily Kos]