Kevin McCarthy, the California shoo-in for Boehner’s old job as Speaker, had dropped out.

As shocked members left the room there was a sense of total disarray, with no clear path forward and no set date for a new vote. Representative Peter King, Republican of New York, said that in dropping out of race, Mr. McCarthy said, “I’m not the one to unify the party.”

A group of about 40 hard-line House conservatives announced Wednesday night that they would support Representative Daniel Webster of Florida, making it unclear whether Mr. McCarthy, who is from California, could assemble the 218 votes on the floor that he would need to be elected later this month.

The decision put the House of Representatives into a state of disarray just days from the first and most serious of a series of fiscal deadlines. …NYT

As ye sow, so shall ye reap… or something. The Times reminds us this isn’t just a political Punch and Judy show. There Are Consequences.

The Treasury Department has said it will exhaust its authority to borrow money to fund the government on Nov. 5. If Congress does not raise or suspend the government’s statutory borrowing limit, the government would default on its debt days later, risking economic chaos, soaring interest rates and plunging stock prices. ...NYT

Doncha just love the Republican idea of responsible governance? Not to mention their neon self-importance?

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It’s beginning to look as though Benghazi — a factor in the McCarthy step-down — is doing more damage to the Republican party than it can ever hope to do to Clinton.

McCarthy had faced sharp criticism from conservatives following his comments on Fox News last week, in which he suggested that a special House committee on the Benghazi terrorist attacks was created to bring down Hillary Clinton. The ensuing uproar emboldened the party’s right wing, who endorsed a challenger to McCarthy and threatened to block his ascension as speaker. …Berman,Atlantic

Cross-posted from Prairie Weather

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