Speaker John Boehner

For Republicans, this is their day, as the GOP takes charge in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) becoming the new Speaker of the House.

The signature scene today in the House will be outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi handing the gavel to Boehner, marking his transition to power, a reverse of four years ago, when Boehner handed Pelosi the gavel.

"No regrets," was how Pelosi described her time in power to reporters on Tuesday, as she delivered a series of broadsides against the GOP, ripping their plans to force a vote on repeal of the Obama health reform law.

While Pelosi has long been part of the Democratic organization, Boehner arrived 20 years ago as a bomb-throwing GOP freshman, demanding change in the Democratic-controlled Congress.  

Early on, he was part of a Republican group known as the "Gang of Seven," demanding reforms and attacking Democrats over scandals in the House Bank and much more, a prelude to the GOP gains of 1994.

One piece of trivia is - of the Gang of Seven - Boehner is the only one who is still in the Congress.

When Republicans won control of the House in the 1994 elections, Boehner was part of the GOP leadership under Speaker Newt Gingrich, serving as head of the House Republican Conference.

But Boehner's involvement in the back room machinations that resulted in the failed coup attempt against Gingrich, along with losses in the 1998 elections, cost the Ohio Republican that leadership job, as he was defeated by Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK).

Boehner did not take that personal setback well.  Bitter might be an apt word to describe him.  At one point, he told me in the Capitol that he did not want to do interviews with me anymore about his future in the Congress.

So, I left him alone for a couple of years and focused on other lawmakers whom I cover for WHIO-AM/FM in Dayton, Ohio.

Instead of leaving the Congress, Boehner buckled down, and won himself the chairmanship of the House Education and Labor Committee, where he brokered some of the deals that created the "No Child Left Behind" program in the second Bush Administration.

Then, as the GOP majority in the House collapsed in the run to the 2006 elections, Boehner decided to run for Minority Leader, and he surprised many by winning that race.

Suddenly, Boehner was not only the top Republican in the House, but he was one election away from being Speaker.

Unlike Newt Gingrich - who was giving speeches and making tough statements almost daily after the elections in 1994 - Boehner has stayed behind the scenes, giving few interviews to reporters and speaking little in public.

Oddly enough, this is now the second time in my many years covering the Congress that a lawmaker I reported on has become Speaker of the House - the first was Gingrich, whom I covered for WSB-AM/FM Atlanta when he was on Capitol Hill.

Gingrich served four years as Speaker.  We'll see if Boehner and his Republican flock can surpass that, as today he becomes the political punching bag for Democrats all over the country.

For Republicans, this is their day, as the GOP takes charge in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) becoming the new Speaker of the House. The signature scene today in the House will be outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi handing the gavel to Boehner, marking his transition ...