Kevin McCarthy's flailing bid for Speaker of the House is not (only) about ideological differences

Concerns over process, rather than politics or policy, are the main reason for his woes

The website of the United States House of Representatives tells me there have been 14 occasions when the election for Speaker of the House has taken multiple ballots. The first was in 1793 — the third Congress ever — when it took members three ballots to cast a majority of ballots for Speaker. Others have taken many more successive votes, such as for th…