WASHINGTON -- As the speculation about Paul Ryan's possible move to become U.S. House Speaker reaches a fever pitch, five men positioning themselves as a backup plan addressed a meeting of Southern Republicans.
One of them was Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County, making his biggest step yet into a speaker bid.
Westmoreland has said he is thinking about a run, and he probably would not challenge Ryan if the former vice presidential candidate runs. But this afternoon he made his case to his fellow Southerners, a group that will be crucial to his long-shot campaign if he enters the fray. Other Republican would-be speakers talking to the Southern coalition in an informal meeting: Reps. Mike Conaway (Texas), Pete Sessions (Texas), Bill Flores (Texas) and Mike Pompeo (Kansas).
According to a person in the room, Westmoreland opened by saying: "This isn't rocket science, guys."
Westmoreland, who has served on the leadership "whip team" but not in elected leadership, proposes a more aggressive and more strategic direction from House Republicans as they struggle to satisfy a base that elected them on lofty promises of changing Washington. Here's how Westmoreland recounted his pitch to us after the meeting:
"It's a different world than we've lived in before, especially with a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week news cycle. And we sell something and then the people get something else, and I think that's because we oversell and underperform. ... Candidates are selling what people want to buy, but when they get up here they find out that the market doesn't sell that product. And so we've got to change that marketplace. ...
"You can't wait 'til the last minute and then stop and say, 'OK, we're going to negotiate a debt ceiling.' Well it's up Nov. 5, and it's Oct. 30. Let's be real, you're not going to negotiate.
"What we need to do is whoever the new speaker is needs to go put 247 votes on the board [the entire Republican conference], and because it's going to pass with Democrats or whatever, it's going to pass. We're going to put every Republican up on the board, just kind of send a message: Hey, there's a new sheriff in town, and we're going to do things differently."
Pressed on whether it is possible to get all Republicans to vote to lift the debt ceiling, no matter what strings are attached, Westmoreland replied: "That should be the goal."
Westmoreland said he does not have plans to meet with other influential groups such as the House Freedom Caucus, as everyone is waiting around for Ryan. The answer could come as soon as tonight.
Outgoing Speaker John Boehner just said on Fox News that he expects an announcement "this evening" from Ryan, but he does not know what the announcement will be.
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