Marathon rounds

As the boxing Marathon rounds the election of the speaker of the US House of Representatives turned into a long drawn and tough contest taking a whopping 15 rounds of voting to come to an end. Interestingly the contest went on for four days in the 118th Congress on the US Capitol making it a record event of sorts. The political partisanship was so intense that Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker after making extensive concessions to a group of right-wing hardliners that raised questions about the party’s ability to govern. The 57-year-old Californian suffered one final humiliation when Representative Matt Gaetz withheld his vote on the 14th ballot as midnight approached, prompting a scuffle in which fellow Republican Mike Rogers was physically dragged away. McCarthy’s victory on the 15th ballot brought an end to the deepest congressional dysfunction in over 160 years and it sharply illustrated the difficulties that he will face in leading a narrow and deeply polarised majority. Even his margin of victory was extremely thin as it was with 216 votes in favour to 212 votes against that he scampered home. He was elected with the votes of fewer than half the House members only because six in his own party withheld their votes, not backing McCarthy as a leader but also not voting for another contender. TW

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