OUR GREAT NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER – AT 3:28 P.M. ET:  It is done.  The symbolic gavel has been transferred.  Nancy will rap it no more:

Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio was elected speaker of the House Wednesday in an historic vote that saw a significant portion of the Democratic caucus vote for someone other than outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Boehner received 241 votes, all Republicans, to capture the gavel and become third in the line of presidential succession, following only the vice president.

Mrs. Pelosi, meanwhile, received 173 votes, but watched as 19 Democrats from her caucus either opted for another candidate or merely voted "present."

The 19 will henceforth be known as "The Guantanamo 19." 

It was the most defections from a party caucus's candidate in at least the last two decades, and underscored the simmering tensions among House Democrats who suffered staggering losses in last year's midterm elections.

I'm glad something about them simmers.

Republicans gained more than five dozen seats, and will control the House 242-193 in the 112th Congress. In a show of just how much Republicans' numbers have grown, they spilled across the aisle into the traditional Democratic seats on the chamber's East side.

COMMENT:  We must arrange more spillage in 2012...if they do the job. 

January 5, 2011