I get to type it...
"The new Number 2."*
Right? Well, not so fast. When Boehner stepped down, McCarthy thought he had the votes, and it looked that way, but the Freedom Caucus wouldn't accept him. We wound up with Paul Ryan because they did accept him. So, will the Freedom Caucus now find McCarthy acceptable? I'm not sold on that. Scalise said that he wouldn't run against McCarthy, but if McCarthy backs out, Scalise is free to run. The Freedom Caucus could even demand Mark Meadows or no one. I wouldn't entirely put it past them.
For what it's worth, here's the PredictIt betting on the next Speaker. They have Pelosi and Hoyer combined at 61 cents on the dollar, with McCarthy as the most likely Republican. This just strikes me as odd. McCarthy had to back out when Boehner got sacked because the Freedom Caucus wouldn't support him, and I'm not clear why they will support him now. Have they beaten him into submission? Has the Freedom Caucus gotten more realistic? Or... is there more of a fight coming?
This could get ugly.
Then again, if the GOP loses the majority, it doesn't really matter. Minority Leader is a rather less powerful position, so the stakes in the fight go way down. McCarthy could just back out, let the wackos have control, and it wouldn't really matter.
Still, I'll remind everyone betting on McCarthy about what happened in 2015. The Freedom Caucus still has effective veto power.
Of course, here's the betting on Ryan being there at year's end...
*Actually, Scalise once called himself David Duke without the baggage, so he has kind of always been number 2, right?