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House Speaker John Boehner’s GOP opponents will try to take him down Tuesday. They are fighting against both the odds and history.The Ohio Republican faces reelection to his third term as leader of the House this afternoon, and he’s expected to face at least token opposition from conservatives in his own party; the latest whip count shows as many as 15 members could oppose Boehner. But that’s well shy of the minimum 29 needed to even bring Boehner to a second vote and throw his reelection into doubt — an outcome that still seems quite unlikely.And not only is it unlikely, it’s largely without precedent.The last time that an election for speaker even went to a second ballot was 92 years ago — in 1923 — when Frederick H. Gillett (R-Mass.) required nine ballots to win reelection as speaker, according to the Congressional Research Service. That was the only speaker election in the past century for which multiple ballots were even needed. And Gillett wound up winning.
