President Obama won the presidential election decidedly Nov. 6^th, but the score was not official until Friday, when a joint session of Congress has counted the electoral votes and confirmed the result.

The official count has Obama and Biden winning 332 electors to Mitt Romney’s 206. That’s same tally as Election Day, which means there were no defectors.

There actually have been faithless electors:

- In 2004, a Minnesota elector cast a vote for John Edwards instead of John Kerry. Edwards was Kerry’s running mate.
- In 2000, a D.C. elector left her ballot blank instead of for Al Gore.
- In 1988, a Dukakis elector instead voted for Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis’ running mate.
- In 1976, a Gerald Ford elector instead cast his ballot for Ronald Reagan.
- In 1972, someone went for the libertarian candidate rather than Richard Nixon.
- In 1968, another Nixon elector instead cast their ballot for George Wallace.
- In 1960, a Nixon elector went for Harry Flood Byrd, a former Democratic senator from Virginia.
- In 1956, there was a vote for an Alabama judge instead of Adlai Stevenson.
- In 1948, a Harry Truman elector voted for Strom Thurmond

The joint session lasted less than 25 minutes, and went without a hitch or objection.

The House has adjourned until Jan. 14th at 2pm.

Updated 2:30 pm ET: The House approved $9.7 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief funding Friday, the initial tranche of what’s expected to be an approximately $60.4 billion package.

The vote was an overwhelming 354-67. The bill needed 281 votes, or a two-thirds majority to pass.

All 192 Democrats that voted supported the measure, but 67 conservative Republicans voted against it.

The activist conservative organization The Club for Growth, for one, urged members to vote no Friday morning.

“Congress should not allow the federal government to be involved in the flood insurance industry in the first place, let alone expand the national flood insurance program's authority,” the club said in a statement.

The final vote breakdown was Democrats 192-0, Republicans 162-67.

The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent only a short time later. The bill will be sent to President Obama as soon as possible to sign into law.

Aides to the newly retired Rep. Barney Frank say the congressman definitely wants to be appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as a caretaker senator. The opening would occur when John Kerry moves to the State Department pending his confirmation as the next secretary.

Frank, who is 72, has said he looked forward to life after Congress and "not having to answer the phone." But just one day after his 16 years in Congress ended, Frank has changed his mind citing the Senate's expected focus on fiscal issues, where Frank could use his expertise as the former top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. A caretaker appointment would be short-term, just for a few months until the special election is set.

Frank told "Morning Joe," "A few weeks ago said, I said I wasn't interested. It was kind of like, you're about to graduate and they said, you've got to go to summer school. But that [fiscal cliff] deal now means that February, March, and April are going to be among the most important months in American financial history."

When Sen. Kennedy died in 2009, the governor chose long time Kennedy aide and former Democratic National Committee chair Paul Kirk to serve in the interim before Scott Brown won the seat. Aides say they cannot comment this morning on whether Frank has heard back from Gov. Patrick.

Who are the negotiators in the next (and upcoming) fiscal showdown?... Boehner’s tenuous grip on his caucus… Three divisions inside the GOP… Reforming the filibuster… December jobs report: 155,000 jobs added, unemployment rate at 7.8%... House GOP tries to do damage control on Hurricane Sandy relief… Congress counts the electoral votes… Gabby Giffords to visit Newtown, CT... And "Meet" has McConnell.

*** The negotiators: Looking ahead to the latest fiscal showdown -- over the debt ceiling, sequester, and government operations -- we posed this question yesterday: Who negotiates for the Republicans? (Is it House Speaker John Boehner, who has said he will no longer negotiate one-on-one with President Obama? Is it Senate Minority Mitch McConnell? What about House Budget Chair Paul Ryan?) But today, we pose this very same question for the Democratic side: Who negotiates for the Obama White House? Consider that the White House’s chief negotiator during the fiscal-cliff fight, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, has previously stated he plans to stay in his post until around the inauguration -- so late January. But is that realistic? We also know that Geithner assumed, when he made that pledge to leave in January, that an end of the year deal would include a debt ceiling extension. But that didn’t happen. So are we really going to see a new Treasury secretary before March? Is that even feasible? Does the White House want a confirmation process in the middle of negotiations over the big March cliffs staring the country in the face? Of course, the White House may believe that by simply moving current White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to Treasury, nothing really changes on the negotiating front. But remember, congressional Republicans weren’t necessarily big Lew fans. Given all of this, does anyone believe that Geithner won’t stay through March if the president asks?

*** Boehner’s tenuous grip: As expected, Boehner won re-election as speaker. But also as expected, it wasn’t easy. As the New York Times writes, his re-election came “amid open dissent from conservatives on the House floor that signaled that the turmoil and division of the 112th Congress is likely to spill into the newly constituted 113th.” More: “[D]iscord was on plain display in the roll call vote for speaker as Mr. Boehner weathered defections from the rank and file to defeat Ms. Pelosi by a vote of 220 to 192. Other nominees — among them the defeated House member and Tea Party firebrand Allen B. West of Florida; Mr. Boehner’s own second-in-command, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia; and retired Gen. Colin L. Powell — drew 14 protest votes from members of both parties.” GOP Congressman Hal Rogers put Boehner’s situation this way: “It’s a little bit like being the head caretaker of the cemetery. There are a lot of people under you, but nobody listens.” Had there been a realistic alternative to Boehner, he might not have survived. But that’s what saved him. Bottom line: Boehner has a very tenuous grip on his caucus right now. In fact, the situation is analogous to where Newt Gingrich was in early 1997 -- and that didn’t turn out well for Gingrich.  

*** The three divisions inside the GOP: So at the very time Republicans hold more leverage in the next fiscal fight -- because tax rates are now off the table -- they’re also more divided than ever. The New Republic’s John Judis explains that there are three current divisions inside the Republican Party. One is the divide between Senate Republicans (who were willing to sign on to the fiscal-cliff deal) and House Republicans (who weren’t). Two is the divide between the GOP interest groups (Grover Norquist and the Chamber of Commerce backed the Senate bill, while Club for Growth and the Heritage Foundation were against it.) But the third divide is the most fascinating: geography. “In the House vote on the fiscal cliff, Republican House members from the deep South opposed it by 83 to 10, while Republicans from the Northeast favored it by 24 to one, and those from the Far West by 17 to eight.” Journalist Dante Chinni, of Patchwork Nation fame, makes a similar point: Republicans representing richer and more densely populated districts were more likely to vote for the fiscal-cliff deal than GOP members from other districts. That’s right, the Republicans with fewer folks in the 1% who are seeing their taxes rise were the most likely to vote AGAINST the deal.

Roger Wollenberg / Getty Images, file

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) emerge from the White House to speak to the media on November 16, 2012.

*** Reforming the filibuster: Speaking of divisions, the U.S. Senate is divided on changing the rules governing the filibuster. The Senate will likely changes the rules; the question is by how much. The Hill: Liberal Democrats on Thursday introduced a resolution to dramatically overhaul the Senate’s filibuster rules. The sponsors, Sens. Tom Udall (N.M.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa), called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to put the reform in effect by using the nuclear option, which they call the ‘constitutional option.’ This maneuver would allow Reid to change the Senate rules with a simple majority vote, instead of clearing the 67-vote threshold needed to change rules under regular order.” More: “The most ambitious element is a call to establish the talking filibuster rule. Now senators can delay legislation for days and require a 60-vote majority to resume action merely by telling their leader or another colleague that they object to it.”

*** 155,000 jobs added in December, unemployment rate at 7.8%: The AP on today’s jobs report: “U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, a steady gain that shows hiring held up during tense fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington. The Labor Department says the unemployment rate stayed at 7.8 percent last month. November's rate was revised higher from an initially reported 7.7 percent.”

*** Damage control: After not passing Hurricane Sandy relief before the 112^th Congress adjourned, House Republicans today are trying to do some damage control. Politico: “Chastened by the debacle over Hurricane Sandy aid, House Republicans are moving quickly to win approval this week of a $9.7 billion increase in financing to pay flood insurance claims arising from the October storm… The Senate approved the same flood insurance increase last week as part of a larger $60.4 billion disaster aid package backed by the White House… Friday’s vote is a first step to try to begin to reconstruct it now in the 113th Congress. And Boehner has promised Northeast lawmakers a second series of votes on Jan. 15 on additional aid, but more immediate action was needed on the flood insurance request.” Per NBC’s Frank Thorp, the House will vote on this flood-insurance legislation around 10:55 am ET.

*** Counting the electoral votes: NBC’s Thorp also reports that Vice President Biden today will preside over a Joint Session of Congress in the House chamber to count the electoral votes for president and vice president. The session, which generally takes about 45 minutes, is required under U.S. Code, and is simply a formality to tally the number of electoral votes and enter them into the congressional record. Four Senate pages, Thorp adds, will carry two mahogany boxes containing the "certificates of vote" to the House chamber, and the votes are counted by four tellers who will read out the votes by state in alphabetical order. By the way, as Bloomberg reports (and as the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman has tracked), Obama ended up winning 51.1% of the popular vote to Romney’s 47.2%, which makes Obama the first president since Eisenhower to win at least 51% in back-to-back elections.

*** Giffords to visit Newtown: Finally today, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords will visit Newtown, CT. As NBCNews.com reported yesterday, “Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords, who survived a shooting at a campaign event in Arizona two years ago and now advocates stricter gun laws, plans to be in Newtown, Conn., on Friday for a private late afternoon meeting. Giffords plans to be at a home in the town where 20 first-graders and six staffers were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a spokesperson for Gov. Dan Malloy's office told NBCConnecticut.com.”

*** McConnell to appear on "Meet": On Sunday, NBC's David Gregory interviews Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on "Meet the Press."

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*** Friday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing looks at the Violence Against Women Act and other legislation left behind with Rep. Gwen Moore, Dana Milbank and Ron Fournier; The Economist’s Greg Ip talks job numbers and the economy; Karen Finney and Jonathan Collegio talk about the Boehner vote; Attorney General Beau Biden looks at his father’s vital Vice Presidency; and the New York Times’ Trip Gabriel weighs in on the “Buckwild” controversy.

*** Friday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: Guest Host Alex Witt interviews Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), former Biden Economic adviser Jared Bernstein, and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).  Today’s Power Panel includes: TheGrio.com’s Perry Bacon, MSNBC Contributor Ron Reagan and Republican strategist Susan Del Percio.

*** Friday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, Newsweek/Daily Beast Special Correspondent Megan McArdle, The Huffington Post’s Janell Ross, msnbc Host Melissa Harris-Perry, The New Yorker’s Kelefa Sanneh, and msnbc Host Chris Hayes

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Angus King (I-ME), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), CNBC’s Jim Cramer, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, former Obama Campaign Traveling Press Secy. Jen Psaki, NBC’s Anne Thompson and The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart.

*** Friday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Guests include Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson, Democratic strategist David Goodfriend, Mark Hosenball from Thomson Reuters and The Washington Post’s Steven Pearlstein.

“Barack Obama is the first president in more than five decades to win at least 51 percent of the national popular vote twice, according to a revised vote count in New York eight weeks after the Nov. 6 election,” Bloomberg writes, adding, “The president nationally won 65.9 million votes -- or 51.1 percent -- against Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who took 60.9 million votes and 47.2 percent of the total cast, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Obama is the first president to achieve the 51 percent mark in two elections since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, who did it in 1952 and 1956, and the first Democrat to do so since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who won four consecutive White House races. Roosevelt received 53.4 percent of the vote -- his lowest -- in his last race in 1944.”

Bloomberg: “Fresh from a budget fight so raw that the Republican speaker of the U.S. House cursed the Democratic leader of the Senate outside the Oval Office, President Barack Obama and Congress are heading for an even bigger confrontation over raising the nation’s debt limit. U.S. Treasury bond investors -- who most directly bear the risk of a government default -- aren’t alarmed. In a sign of the disconnect between Washington and Wall Street, investors remain confident the two sides will compromise rather than inflict what Obama called ‘catastrophic’ consequences. Yields on long-term U.S. debt are near record lows.”

“The federal government conditionally approved eight additional states to run health exchanges Thursday, bringing the total to 20 states that will have the programs that were authorized by the 2010 federal health care law,” USA Today writes, adding, “Although states with Republican governors have fought the law, such as Texas, four of them -- Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah -- have created the exchanges.”

More: “To show their disapproval of the health care law, the majority of Republican-run states have not created exchanges. Some conservative groups, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, say the exchanges forces the states to give up insurance regulation and advise states to rebel against the law by refusing to take federal money to create the exchanges. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said residents of all 50 states would have access to a new marketplace in 10 months. Those who live in areas without a state-run exchange will be able to use the federal exchange.”

The AP’s Espo: “Moments after grasping an oversized gavel that symbolizes his authority, Boehner implored the assembly of newcomers and veterans in the 113th Congress to tackle the nation’s heavy burden of debt at long last. ‘We have to be willing — truly willing — to make this right.’ Also on the two-year agenda is the first significant effort at an overhaul of the tax code in more than a quarter century. Republicans and Democrats alike say they want to chop at a thicket of existing tax breaks and use the resulting revenue to reduce rates.”

But first, Sandy funding is on the docket today. “A $9.7 billion measure to pay flood insurance claims is set for a vote in Congress, boosting prospects for relief for the many home and business owners flooded out by Superstorm Sandy,” AP writes, adding, “The Federal Emergency Management Agency warns that the National Flood Insurance Program will run out of money next week if Congress doesn’t provide additional borrowing authority to pay out claims.” More: “About 140,000 Sandy-related flood insurance claims have been filed, FEMA officials said, and most have yet to be closed out. Many flood victims have only received partial payments on their claims.”

What that means in real life: “Philip Rock has received $8,000 in flood insurance payments so far but said he is awaiting a statement on the final amount, which he expects to be much more. A house he owns in Toms River, N.J., had a $220,000 flood insurance policy. The house, which he rents out, was destroyed, and he needs to know the final payout before he can demolish it. The house is a ‘total loss,’ Rock said. ‘We don’t want to demolish the house and have them say, ‘We have to go around and take more pictures.'”

Bloomberg called the defections from Boehner “symbolic protests.”

The Hill sees a “failed coup.” Walter Jones pointed the finger at Justin Amash as the coup leader. They both voted against Boehner and said they thought they had as many as 20 votes.

Roll Call sees it as “party drama.”

Politico points at Tim Huelskamp as another organizer.

“Supporters of tighter federal gun restrictions moved quickly Thursday, the first day of the new Congress, introducing bills in the wake of last month's deadly mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., that will set up a long and contentious fight over the shape of the nation's gun laws,” USA Today notes, adding, “The bill would ban high-capacity ammunition magazines.”

Check out this quote from freshman Ted Yoho, quoted by National Journal (h/t Political Wire): "Intimidating is going up to a growling Rottweiler and having to squeeze his anal glands, or going up to a stallion that weighs 1,200 pounds and telling him you're going to take his testicles off. That's intimidating. I think I can handle Congress."

It was vintage Joe being Joe in the swearing in of members yesterday. The Hill has video.

The AP sees potential 2016 implications in what happened over the last couple of weeks: “Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential candidate, voted for the ‘fiscal cliff’ compromise that raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul voted against it. And Vice President Joe Biden helped broker the deal with GOP leaders in the Senate. As Congress closed out its term this week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie accused fellow Republicans of showing ‘callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state’ by not holding a vote on Superstorm Sandy aid. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined him in the rebuke.

“And Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton drew headlines for a different reason after being hospitalized for a blood clot in her head, an illness that raised questions about the Democrat’s political future. While the next presidential primary voting is still three years away, the political implications of the actions and whereabouts of the potential field of 2016 candidates hung over extraordinary year-end Washington drama.

Roll Call: “Sanford Likely Front-Runner in S.C. Special Election.” From the story: “His affair is almost certain to be a thorny issue with socially conservative primary voters but likely not enough to stop him from being one of the top two finishers in the March GOP primary. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held in April.”

More: “Jenny Sanford, the former governor's ex-wife, told CQ Roll Call last year she was considering a run. But insiders now believe she probably won’t pull the trigger on a bid. Jenny Sanford didn’t return requests for comment Thursday.”

Earlier today, Bloomberg News reported that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is planning to leave the Obama administration by the end of January, even if the White House and Congress haven't yet reached a deal on the debt ceiling by then.

In response to a question from First Read about the article, a Treasury spokesperson says that Geithner has previously stated he plans to stay "until around the inauguration" -- so late January.

"Secretary Geithner has previously stated that he plans to be at Treasury until around the inauguration," the spokesperson said. "We do not plan to make any further announcements about the timing of the Secretary's departure until after his successor is named."

Geithner, 51, is the only remaining original member of Obama's cabinet and has been an instrumental figure in the administration's handling of the bank bailouts and economic recovery efforts in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. 

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Geithner served as the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He first joined the Treasury department in 1988 and served in various roles under three separate administrations.  

One possible contender for the job after Geithner's departure is current White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, who previously served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

NBC's Carrie Dann contributed to this report.  

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was released last night from the hospital after being treated for a blood clot, is looking forward to coming back to work next week, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said today.

"Some of the senior staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she's sounding terrific, upbeat, raring to go. She's looking forward to getting back to the office. She is very much planning to do so next week, and we'll have further precise details about that as she continues to make progress," Nuland said.

Recommended: Boehner re-elected as Speaker of the House

Nuland said Clinton's family has been with her at home, but didn't have any other details about visitors to share. Nuland said she didn't have any new details on the medical side of things, but instead referenced a previous statement by Clinton's doctors advising against international travel.

"It sounds as if the doctors' preference is that she not make any international trips for a little while," she said.

Nuland called the number of messages from international leaders wishing Clinton well a "tsunami." Nuland didn't have any calls to international leaders to read out, but said she is sure Clinton will be back on the phone with her counterparts soon.

Clinton has said she is committed to testify on the Hill regarding Benghazi, but Nuland didn't have a date to announce. "We are working with the committees on an appropriate set of dates," she said.

Nuland was also asked about Clinton's likely successor. She didn't have an update on when Sen. John Kerry's confirmation hearing would be held, but said the State Department is also working on that date.

"We are also working with the Hill on an appropriate date for the hearing. It goes to the calendar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hasn't yet been set," Nuland said.

Updated 2:14 p.m. -- Ohio Rep. John Boehner, R, won a second term as speaker of the House on Thursday over the dissent of a handful of House conservatives.

Following a bruising first two years as speaker and leader of House Republicans, 10 conservative lawmakers cast votes for someone other than Boehner during a roll call vote in the first hours of the new Congress. Several other conservative Republicans abstained from voting. Boehner received 220 votes of a total of 426 cast.

While Boehner won re-election to the speakership with the overwhelming support of the GOP, he also narrowly avoided the 16 total defections from fellow Republicans that would have triggered a second ballot of House lawmakers on electing a speaker. That would have been the first time a second ballot was needed since 1923, and a mild embarrassment for Boehner.

In remarks after the vote, a characteristically emotional Boehner urged members to resist pursuing "political victory" in lieu of leadership. 

"If you've come here to see your name in the lights or to pass off political victory as some accomplishment, you've come to the wrong place. The door's right behind you," he said. "If you have come here humbled by the opportunity to serve, if you've come here to be the determined voice of the people, if you've come here to carry the standard of leadership demanded not by our constituents but by the times, then you've come to the right place. "

Boehner cited the federal deficit as the overwhelming problem to be addressed by lawmakers, alluding to the need for serious negotiations to solve it.

"As Speaker, I pledge to listen and to do all I can to help all of you carry out the oath of office that we are all about to take," he said. "Because in our hearts, we know it's wrong to pass this debt on to our kids and grandkids, now we have to be willing - truly willing - to make this problem right."

Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the No. 4 Republican in the House, said that Republicans’ support for Boehner was “unanimous,” and no other GOP lawmaker publicly nominated an alternative candidate.

"There's one person I turn to," she said during her nominating speech, "to help point the way forward."

Democrats mostly cast their ballots for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Calif., for speaker, though a handful of moderate Democrats defected.

In remarks after the vote, Pelosi praised Boehner as a family man and a leader who has won "the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle." 

 First Thoughts: Boehner boxed in

Boehner during his two years as speaker oftentimes struggled to manage an unruly Republican conference that threatened to scuttle deals the Ohio Republican had cut with President Barack Obama and Democrats. Boehner led Republicans to the majority in 2010 thanks to an infusion of energy from the Tea Party, but the demands of these conservatives often pushed Boehner into brinksmanship during battles with the administration over funding the government, extending the debt ceiling, extending a payroll tax cut through 2012 and resolving the fiscal cliff.

At the beginning of the last Congress, Republicans unanimously acclaimed Boehner as their speaker. But during the intervening two years, Boehner encountered internal challenges that threatened to undercut his leadership.

During the high-stakes 2011 debates over continuing government funding and extending the nation’s borrowing authority, jockeying between Boehner and his No. 2, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., were little more than an open secret in Washington. (That dynamic cooled during 2012; while Cantor opposed the final fiscal cliff deal, his and Boehner’s team took great strides toward downplaying any sense of a rift between the two Republican leaders.)

But Cantor received a handful of votes from some conservative and freshman lawmakers during Thursday’s election; one of the other common names was that of former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., one of the most high-profile conservative firebrands from the last Congress who lost his bid for re-election.

The internal Republican discord most strikingly spilled into the public spotlight during the lame-duck Congress, following elections which saw Republicans lose eight seats but retain their majority in the House. Boehner earned enemies from a handful of Republican congressman after the Republican steering committee stripped them of plum committee spots after they were deemed “not team players.” Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, one of the four rogue Republicans, has almost made it a personal mission since then to highlight Boehner’s difficulties with conservatives.

Boehner’s speakership also arguably reached its weakest point during the final days of the 112th Congress when his fallback plan in fiscal cliff negotiations – which would have allowed taxes to rise on income over $1 million – was rejected by conservatives, thereby weakening their speaker’s own bargaining position.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the 113th House of Representatives recite the Pledge of Allegiance during the opening session at the Capitol, on Jan. 3, 2013.

But Boehner’s chief advantage in winning a second term as speaker stemmed from his lack of a formidable adversary. Though some grassroots conservatives had sought out different challengers to the speaker, none had emerged as a consensus choice during December. When conservatives floated the name of Rep. Tom Price – Boehner had supported Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., over Price in a race for the GOP’s fourth-ranking position – the Georgia Republican quickly quashed rumors that he would challenge Boehner.

And the leaders best-positioned to challenge Boehner – Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Calif., or even Wisconsin Rep. and former vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan – closed ranks around the speaker, tasking Boehner for another two years with one of the most unenviable tasks in Washington: managing the House Republican Conference.

NBC's Carrie Dann contributed to this report. 

As 113^th Congress begins, Boehner finds himself boxed in like never before… But he will still likely win re-election as speaker… The 113^th Congress, by the numbers… Assessing the aftermath of the fiscal-cliff deal: Obama emerges as a winner… But is it just a short-term win?... The re-emergence of McConnell… And the re-emergence of Biden.

Molly Riley / AFP - Getty Images

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks out after a second meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol on Jan. 1, 2013.

*** Boehner boxed in: Exactly two years ago, John Boehner was the toast of Washington. Fueled by the Tea Party gains in the 2010 midterms and facing a humbled president and Democratic Party, Boehner was elected House speaker. Flash forward to today: Boehner likely will once again win election as speaker. But after passage of the fiscal-cliff deal and the House’s inability to pass a Hurricane Sandy relief package, Boehner finds himself boxed in like never before. Roll Call: “Over the past few weeks, the Ohio lawmaker has been raked over the coals by members of all stripes within his own party — first by those seeking less spending in exchange for tax rate hikes, then by those seeking more spending for disaster aid. The public thrashing came to a head Wednesday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie … blatantly accused Boehner of political cowardice for pulling a supplemental aid package for those affected by Superstorm Sandy.” (Boehner has since said that getting Sandy relief will be the first legislative priority of the new 113^th Congress.) The one true achievement by Boehner and the House Republicans is that they have turned every spending bill into a debate, which wasn’t the case before, and that is an achievement for the party of small government. But here’s the central question to ask: Is the Republican Party in a better position today than it was two years ago? It’s hard to argue “yes” to that question.

*** But he will still likely win re-election as speaker: As noted above, with today’s start of the 113^th Congress, the House of Representatives will vote to elect a speaker of the House. While it is likely that John Boehner will be re-elected as speaker, per NBC’s Frank Thorp, we could see the first second ballot for speaker since 1923 if 16 conservatives decide to vote against Boehner. Thorp adds that the 113th Congress will convene for the first time at noon ET, after which the House will vote to elect the speaker. Members will be called by name alphabetically and asked for their vote.  This vote is different than typical votes, which are done electronically during a set period of time. The speaker needs a majority of all votes cast to be elected.  If all members were to vote, Boehner would need 217 votes, unless there are members who are absent for the vote, or members who vote "present" (for no one). By the way, it seems that the House No. 2 Republican, Eric Cantor, was caught selling out the king in the Sandy mess. Here was Christie at his press conference: “I was called at 11:20 last night by Leader Cantor and told that authority for the vote had been pulled by the speaker.” Just askin’, but when Cantor decided to share with Christie his version of what happened to Sandy relief, did Cantor know Christie would go public?  Remember all those stories about Cantor and Boehner becoming closer? Um, yeah… how do you spell a-w-k-w-a-r-d?

*** The 113th Congress, by the numbers: The 113th Congress’ partisan breakdown will be as follows: In the House, per NBC’s Frank Thorp: 233 Republicans, 200 Democrats, two vacancies (Tim Scott and Jesse Jackson Jr.) That means once those two seats are filled, it will likely be 234-201.) That’s a slightly narrower breakdown than the 112th, which ended with 240-191, four vacancies. In the Senate, Democrats will continue to control the Senate – but with a slightly larger 55-45 majority (including two independents who will caucus with the Democrats). As NBC’s Carrie Dann reported last month: A record-breaking 20 women will serve in the Senate, while 78 will be seated in the United States House. There will be 16 Iraq and Afghanistan vets of the new members. There will also be four new members who are LGBT, almost doubling the number of openly gay lawmakers. And remember, for the first time in history, white men will NOT make up the majority of the House Democratic caucus. Also, today marks the return of Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) after his stroke. Per the Chicago Daily Herald, Kirk “plans to climb the 45 steps of the U.S. Capitol without the aid of a handrail.”

*** Assessing the aftermath of the fiscal-cliff deal: A win for Obama: Yes, liberals and Senate Democrats think President Obama gave up too much for a deal. And, yes, there's another fiscal fight coming up (more on that below). But he got a deal, proving that the GOP "fever" did break, at least for a while. He also delivered on a campaign promise to raise the taxes on the wealthy (although had to compromise from $250,000 to $450,000), and he got Republicans (!!!) to give him cover in raising taxes -- something Bill Clinton was never able to do. And he protects a fragile, yet growing, economy. It’s hard to see how that isn't a win for the president.

*** But is it just a short-term win? The question is how long that win lasts. After all, we’ll have another fiscal showdown in two months over the debt ceiling, government operations, and the sequester. So what happened over New Year's was a partial surgery -- the patient and the doctors still need to come back to finish the job. Yes, Republicans now have more leverage heading into this debt-ceiling fight. But two things happened over New Year's that are significant: 1) Republicans proved they could support an increase in tax rates and 2) House Republicans also proved that you don't need a "majority of the majority" to bring legislation to the floor. And there is now a path forward for future deals, as the New York Times notes, with the White House working with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. But can that last? And who speaks for Republicans? Those are questions over which the Obama White House will have to wrestle.

*** The re-emergence of McConnell: Speaking of the Senate minority leader, so much for the early thought that the Senate -- and Senate Republicans -- wouldn't be a key factor in the negotiations. Given how much the GOP was going to be blamed for going off the cliff, McConnell protected his party, and it allows it to fight on better terrain two months from now. McConnell, who faces re-election in Kentucky next year, pens a Yahoo op-ed saying that he will now be pursuing spending cuts. “Was [the fiscal-cliff deal] a great deal? No. As I said, taxes shouldn’t be going up at all. Just as importantly, the transcendent issue of our time, the spiraling debt, remains completely unaddressed. Yet now that the president has gotten his long-sought tax hike on the ‘rich,’ we can finally turn squarely toward the real problem, which is spending.” Can McConnell politically handle making the right mad by becoming the dealmaker in a year he has to prep for his own re-election in very red Kentucky? And if not McConnell, who? And who speaks for Republicans? If Boehner isn’t going to do anymore one-on-one talks with the White House (and why should he at this point, the trust between the two offices is just awful at this point), who is Boehner’s wing man? Cantor? (See Sandy story.) McCarthy? (He’s tight with Cantor.) Perhaps it’s Paul Ryan? (But does he have his own ambitions?) The White House would certainly like to know; they LOVE the Biden-McConnell gambit, but could other partnerships be created? Say, Geithner-Ryan on the debt ceiling? Or how about Obama-Rubio on immigration?

*** The re-emergence of Biden: Has there been a more underappreciated vice president? Yes, he's the butt of jokes and "The Onion" parodies. But the guy delivered in reaching across the aisle. The whole point in Obama hiring Biden was to have him as his congressional go-to guy; For some reason, many in the West Wing are hesitant to let Biden be Biden and play this role until the very last minute. While Biden allowed himself to be rolled by staffers every now and then in the West Wing, in a second term (with his own eye on the Oval), we’re guessing Biden’s going to less inclined to take a backseat come March.

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*** Thursday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) on the fiscal fights going forward… A deep dive into the most concentrated party power in the states in decades with The Hotline’s Reid Wilson… more on the start of the 113^th Congress with AP’s Liz Sidoti, The Grio’s Perry Bacon Jr. and Roll Call’s David Drucker.

*** Thursday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews Rep. Tom Cole, Nia-Malika Henderson & Jackie Kucinich; Asbury Park Mayor Ed Johnson & Jersey Shore resident Christine Lewis update us on the Sandy recovery; Gov. Ed Rendell & Tony Fratto weigh in on the GOP House Caucus; and Lea Goldman looks at beauty pageants and politics.

*** Thursday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: Guest Host Alex Witt interviews Rep. Jerold Nadler (D-NY), Sen.-Elect Chris Murphy (D-CT), former Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, and MSNBC Host Melissa Harris Perry.  Joining today’s Power Panel:  Time Magazine’s Rana Faroohar, Democratic Strategist Jen Psaki, and Republican Strategist Robert Traynham.

*** Thursday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include the New York Times' Nicholas Confessore, Fmr. DNC Communications Director Karen Finney; Fortune Asst. Managing Editor Leigh Gallagher, and The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart

*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Frank Lobiondo (R-NJ),  NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell and Luke Russert, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and Karen Tumulty, Politico’s Mike Allen, Time’s Margaret Carlson and Bloomberg Businessweek’s Joshua Green.

*** Thursday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: The program has live coverage of the House speaker’s address to the 113^th Congress and the oath of office by members. Also: The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, The Hill’s AB Stoddard, Roll call’s Shira Toeplitz, and Time magazine’s Kate Pickert on the 40^th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

Front page of the New York Times: “Fury in G.O.P As House Stalls Hurricane Aid.”

The New York Daily News’ cover: “Stabbed in the back: N.Y. pols blast Sandy betrayer Boehner.” (The cover includes a picture of the Statue of Liberty with a bloodied knife in its back and John Boehner.)

The Daily News’ story: “House Speaker John Boehner did an about-face Wednesday and promised quick action on $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy aid, after his abrupt decision to table the measure triggered a storm of outrage. Boehner’s reversal ended a day of anger and drama in which top Republicans from New York and New Jersey accused the speaker of betrayal — an extraordinary attack against their party’s most powerful figure.”

The New York Post: “Furious GOP lawmakers unloaded on fellow Republican House Speaker John Boehner yesterday for spiking a bill to provide $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief — prompting a stunning about-face that puts the disaster aid back on a fast track.”

AP: “Under intense pressure from angry Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner agreed Wednesday to a vote this week on aid for Superstorm Sandy recovery.”

USA Today finds: “More than 40% of the 82 incoming House freshmen had more debt than leftover cash in the bank, a USA TODAY analysis of final election reports shows. For more than two dozen of them, the unpaid bills topped $100,000 each. Seven of the 12 new senators showed debts on their Dec. 6 reports to the Federal Election Commission. As a result, newly elected lawmakers are bombarding their supporters with pleas for campaign money and holding rounds of fundraising dinners, breakfasts and receptions — even before they are sworn in Thursday.”

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) returns to the Senate today after suffering a stroke nearly a year ago. His interview with the Chicago Daily Herald: “Kirk's life and outlook would be dramatically changed, the stroke serving as a defining moment that he said deepened his faith and altered his sense of purpose. Sitting at the dining room table of his suburban townhouse, his left arm slack, Kirk gestures emphatically with his right hand as he says the experience made him resolve ‘to never, ever give up.’”

“He is determined ‘to just keep going, even when things feel like we're at the end here. Which is what the ICU was like for me.’ This Thursday, Jan. 3, Kirk plans to climb the 45 steps of the U.S. Capitol without the aid of a handrail.” 

The Hill: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he’s telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.

The AP’s Babington: “Congress’ hectic resolution of the ‘fiscal cliff’ crisis is the latest in a long series of decisions by lawmakers and the White House to do less than promised — and to ask Americans for little sacrifice — in confronting the nation’s burgeoning debt.”

USA Today’s Davis: “Partisan divisions and brinksmanship politics defined the outgoing Congress right up to the final scramble to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff.’ The last-ditch deal dodged income-tax hikes for nearly all Americans and delayed for two months spending cuts for the Pentagon and domestic programs. Still, the compromise didn't solve, or even seriously address, the deficit problems that prompted Congress to write the laws that nearly forced the nation over the cliff in the first place.”

AP: “While the tax package that Congress passed New Year’s Day will protect 99 percent of Americans from an income tax increase, most of them will still end up paying more federal taxes in 2013. That’s because the legislation did nothing to prevent a temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax from expiring. In 2012, that 2-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax was worth about $1,000 to a worker making $50,000 a year.”

Michael Hirsch: “Crazies. Cliff divers. Nihilists. Nutjobs. Those are just a few of the descriptions being applied to the 151 House Republicans who broke with Speaker John Boehner—they included his own supposed wing men, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Whip Kevin McCarthy—to vote against the fiscal cliff deal Tuesday night. In truth, what the fine print of the bill demonstrates is that the Republicans who refused to vote for the fiscal compromise had every right to be disgusted by it—that is, if you expect legislators to hold true at all to the beliefs that inspired them to run for office in the first place. The last-minute deal exposed Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as creatures of the old system, and it ripped the scab off whatever healing had occurred between the Republican traditionalists and the tea partiers since then. Make no mistake: The divide within the GOP will continue, demonstrating that the tea-party rebellion lives on in the new House.” 

Beth Reinhard: “Lumped together as two of the youngest and brightest Republican stars, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio parted ways on the fiscal cliff with votes that reflect divergent strategies for building their party and political futures.”

Obama signed the fiscal cliff bill with an auto pen.

AP: President Barack Obama has signed a $633 billion defense bill for next year that tightens penalties on Iran and bolsters security at diplomatic missions worldwide after the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Politico: “President Barack Obama won’t be able to enjoy much of a victory lap from his win over congressional Republicans on the fiscal cliff fight. There are about 16.4 trillion reasons why. The staggering national debt — up about 60 percent from the $10 trillion Obama inherited when he took office in January 2009 — is the single biggest blemish on Obama’s record, even if the rapid descent into red began under President George W. Bush.”

The New York Times adds, “For President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress, the fiscal deal reached this week is full of small victories that further their largest policy aims. Above all, it takes another step toward Mr. Obama’s goal of orienting federal policy more toward the middle class and the poor, at the expense of the rich. Yet the deal, which the Senate and the House have passed and Mr. Obama is expected to sign soon, also represents a substantial risk for the president.”

The message: “Democrats, facing a challenging fight to retake the House of Representatives in 2014, see a promising new line of attack rising out of the fiscal cliff follies: casting the Republican congressional majority as a terminally dysfunctional body that cannot perform the basic functions of government, let alone lead the country through difficult times,” Politico’s Burns writes. “It’s a meaningful shift from the Democrats’ message in 2012, when President Barack Obama’s party gained a modest eight seats in the House attacking Republicans as ultraconservative allies of the super-rich.”

The message: “Democrats, facing a challenging fight to retake the House of Representatives in 2014, see a promising new line of attack rising out of the fiscal cliff follies: casting the Republican congressional majority as a terminally dysfunctional body that cannot perform the basic functions of government, let alone lead the country through difficult times,” Politico’s Burns writes. “It’s a meaningful shift from the Democrats’ message in 2012, when President Barack Obama’s party gained a modest eight seats in the House attacking Republicans as ultraconservative allies of the super-rich.”

Roger L. Wollenberg / Getty Images

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speak to the media at the White House on Nov. 16, 2012.

Four months ago, the United States Congress had a gloomy approval rating of just 12 percent. And that was before most Americans had ever heard of a "fiscal cliff." 

The last NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll to measure congressional approval (August), showed that a whopping 82 percent of Americans disapproved of the job Congress was doing, an all-time record for the history of the survey.

By some estimates, Congress' approval rating could now -- after an ugly fiscal cliff fight and the brewing storm over aid to Hurricane Sandy victims -- be nearly within the margin of, well, zilch. 

Big policy losers in tax deal: deficit reduction and 'certainty'

So is Congress doomed to forever be the branch of government eating alone in the proverbial cafeteria of public opinion? And can it go any lower?

For the last four years, no more than one-in-three adults has given Congress a thumbs up, according to the poll. And it's been longer than a decade since more than half of Americans approved of their representative government on Capitol Hill.

Experts say that because the ratings have been so poor for so long, members are no longer fazed by the public's overall disapproval. They note that the lambasting of Congress as a whole has minimal effects on individual races, especially when candidates run against the status quo of the very body they're trying to join.

Some 90 percent of lawmakers who ran for re-election in 2012 will be coming right back to Capitol Hill for the 113th Congress. 

"Nobody ever votes on Congress as a whole, they vote on individual members," says Jack Pitney, professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. "The message that most lawmakers give their constituents is 'I'm great, it's these other bozos who are the problem.'"

For the most part, that pitch works.

'Everybody has something to hate'
In the August NBC/WSJ poll, even though only about one-in-ten Americans approved of Congress, four times as many said that their own representatives deserved re-election.

Apart from keeping the same lawmakers they seem bent on throwing out, the public has also sent mixed signals on whether or not it wants a government divided between two parties.

For more than 20 of the last 30 years, the White House has been controlled by a different party than one or both houses of Congress.

Boehner likely to be reelected speaker, but there could be drama

With Congress frequently butting heads with the president -- particularly on budgetary matters that could have real and unpleasant consequences for American taxpayers -- it's not easy for lawmakers to compete for a "Miss Congeniality" trophy.

"These fights, combined with difficult economic times, leave the public to understandably think very poorly of the Congress," says Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and the co-author of a recent book on political dysfunction.

"I don't think it's destined to always be that way, but when you have a war going on between the two major parties, not just during campaign season but throughout the governing season, then it's not surprising for Congress to get these kind of ratings," Mann said. 

Making matters worse for Congress: the issues at stake often involve spending cuts and federal program changes likely to affect voters directly -- many of them negatively.

"We have an enormous deficit and the only steps that we can take to reduce the deficit are painful and unpopular," says Pitney. "Plus, you have split party control, so everybody has something to hate."

Public wants unity
In a model divided government, the Congress would serve -- at least in principle -- to cancel the most partisan priorities from the executive branch in favor of centrist ideals.

But with that rosy idea of balance often replaced by inaction and gridlock, polling suggests that the country may be shifting toward a preference for unity.

A recent Gallup survey showed that the number of Americans who said they want to see divided government is at record lows, with just 23 percent favoring a president and a Congress from different parties.

What the fiscal deal means for you

That's a finding that Brock McCleary, the former deputy executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and founder of the survey firm Harper Polling, has seen replicated in polls throughout various House districts.

"Our assumption was voters would want one branch of government as a nice check and balance on the other one and think that as long as everyone's tapping the brakes on one another it's probably better for the country," he said. "But we would go and look at polling and find that wasn't actually the case. Very few people were telling pollsters that's what they wanted."

But, McCleary added, that sentiment didn't translate into change in the two most recent elections in 2010 and 2012, which resulted in a Republican House despite a fairly decisive re-election for a Democratic president.

"There's a disconnect there," he said.

With divided government in place for at least the next two years, and with the vast majority up for re-election likely to return each year -- Congress's best hope may ultimately depend on the economy that each party aims to improve. But in the immediate future, those prospects look bleak.

"People generally need to feel as though the country is back on the right track," said McCleary. "Until that turns around it, sliding approval numbers are a fact of life for American politicians."

Hours after Congress passed a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, the White House is continued its “outside game” of encouraging public support of President Obama’s policies – in this case, highlighting what the White House considers a victory in the fight over raising tax rates on the wealthiest Americans.

Campaign manager Jim Messina sent a mass email via BarackObama.com, the former campaign website, linking to the video in which President Obama touts the deal and urges supporters to stay involved during his second term.

“Just like four years ago, winning an election won’t bring about the change we seek on its own. It only gives us the chance to make that change,” he says in the three-minute video.

And subscribers to WhiteHouse.gov, the official website, got an email from senior adviser David Plouffe explaining “7 things you need to know about the tax deal.”

One big thing highlighted in that second email: that Obama kept his promises; the first two facts, about tax rates, start off that way.

“As the President promised, income taxes for middle-class families will stay low permanently,” says Fact #1.

Since the election, White House has put an emphasis on outreach over its key legislative priorities, after criticism during Obama’s first term that he didn’t do enough to keep the public informed.

The fiscal cliff outside game has included a social media offensive as well as events in Pennsylvania and Michigan that mimicked the president’s re-election rallies.  

Updated 11:15 p.m. ET: House Speaker John Boehner is giving some ground on Sandy funding and timing a vote.

The House will now hold a vote Friday on $9 billion in Sandy recovery funds, followed by another vote on $51 billion on Jan. 15th.

Congress did not hold a vote last night, enraging Tri-state-area members of Congress from both parties.

After a blitzing round of cable interviews, in which Republican Rep. Peter King (NY) blasted Boehner for not voting on the funding last night, he and other New York- and New Jersey-area members say their concerns have been addressed.

"Turning your back on people who are starving and freezing is not a Republican value," King had said this morning on CNN.

This afternoon, after a meeting with Boehner, King's tone changed.

"Whatever's done is done, and that's it," King said at an afternoon press conference on Capitol Hill, adding later, "The bottom line is we need the $60 billion." King later said he was satisfied with the response from House GOP leaders.

Boehner and Reps. Michael Grimm (NJ) and Chris Smith (NJ) also now say they will all support Boehner when he comes up for reelection for speaker tomorrow.

The move also came after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed Boehner and House Republicans earlier in the day.

"Shame on you. Shame on Congress," Christie said in a televised news conference from Trenton, N.J. He called Congress' delay "disgraceful."

"It is why the American people hate Congress," Christie said, adding, "Unlike people in Congress, we have actual responsibilities."

The House will vote tomorrow to elect a Speaker of the House. While it is likely that Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) will be reelected, if 17 conservatives decide to vote against Boehner, it could lead to the first second ballot for speaker since 1923.

There are no indications Boehner will not be re-elected Speaker. While there will likely be members who vote against him, there is no real candidate that could garner enough votes to take Boehner down.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) leaves a House Republican Caucus meeting.

The 113th Congress will convene for the first time at noon Thursday, after which the House will vote to elect a speaker.

Members will be called by name alphabetically and asked for their vote. This vote is different than typical votes, which are done electronically during a set period of time. 

The next speaker needs a majority of all votes cast to be elected. They do not need a majority of the full membership of the House. The 113th has 434 members because Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s seat will be vacant.  

If all members were to vote, Boehner would need 218 votes, unless there are members who are absent for the vote or members who vote "present" (for no one).

Since 1913, the year the House reached the size of 435 members, there has only been one time that no candidate received the majority of the votes cast for speaker.  

That was in 1923, when nine ballots over three days were needed before Rep. Frederick Gillett (R-MA) was reelected to the position for a third term.

The speaker does not have to be a member of Congress, but in the history of the House of Representatives there has never been a speaker who was not a member.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) nominated Newt Gingrich this year during the Republican Conference meeting, but that nomination was not seconded, and Speaker Boehner was nominated by a voice vote (no objectors) to be the Republicans' nominee yet again.  Democrats chose to have Nancy Pelosi as their nominee for Speaker of the House.

Between 1943 and 1995, only the nominated Republican and Democrat received votes, but before that, it was customary for members of other groups within parties would garner votes as well. 

Since 1913, the speaker has been elected without a majority of the whole House, but with the majority of those voting, only four times: 

-- 1917 (65th Congress) -- "Champ" Clark (D-MO) was elected with 217 votes; 
-- 1923 (68th Congress) -- Frederick Gillett (R-MA) was elected with 215 votes;
-- 1943 (78th Congress) -- Sam Rayburn (D-TX) was elected with 217 votes;
-- 1997 (105th Congress) -- Newt Gingrich (R-GA) was elected with 216 votes

Recent speaker votes:

-- 2011 (Jan. 5th): Boehner 241, Pelosi 173, Shuler 11, Lewis (GA) 2 Costa 1, Cardoza 1, Cooper 1, Kaptur 1, Hoyer 1, Present 1 
-- 2009 (Jan. 6th): Pelosi 255, Boehner 174
-- 2007 (Jan. 4th): Pelosi 233, Boehner 202
-- 2005 (Jan. 4th): Hastert 226, Pelosi 199, Murtha 1, Present 1 

Boehner not at risk of losing speakership - Cantor playing the long game .... All this sets up an even bigger fight - triple jeopardy in just a couple months ... the "debacle" for the Republican Party ... a tax hike or tax cut? ... Simpson-Bowles see "missed opportunity" ... You want him to do what to himself? ... Bill goes to Hawaii ... Outrage over Sandy funding ... and what about guns?

ANALYSIS: Some are making a lot of the vote split between House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. But the reality is less Machiavellian politics and more long-term maneuvering.

What it showed more than anything isn’t some deep rift within the conference or that Boehner’s speakership is in jeopardy. It isn’t a coup against Boehner. It shows that Boehner sees the light at the end of the tunnel of his career and would prefer to be more of a pragmatist and deal maker – but his conference won’t allow him to be that. That pragmatic streak is in the minority of the House GOP.

Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, on the other hand, are going to be around for a while, and if they want to be leaders of the conference in the House, perhaps even speaker, and want to have any political clout, they have to stand with the influential conservative base.

Cantor has stood with Boehner through much of this fight and others in the past year, and that’s because he cannot alienate Boehner allies. Many establishment conservative will still be around – and be a significant voting bloc – when Boehner retires, whenever that will be.

The big campaign for speaker -- at some point -- could come between Cantor and Paul Ryan, who might -- or might not -- run for president in 2016. Ryan, by the way, voted yes last night, unlike Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), widely thought to be eyeing a 2016 bid.

The roll call… Boomark it! GOP primary opportunists will comb this list. It’s going to be their TARP to run on.

What now? Dates to watch…

TRIPLE JEOPARDY (H/T NBC’s Mike Viqueira for the headline and Essa Yip for the dates)
Late Feb/early March – Debt ceiling
March 1 - Sequester
March 27 – Budget resolution

(*Note to pithy catch-phrase writers, please refrain from using “March Madness” for the next fiscal showdown. New Year’s was already ruined with talks of rocky abysses, can we preserve what is a sacred time for some of us?)

'Debacle for the Republican Party'... Chuck Todd on TODAY:

“What’s coming in March with what they’ve done, and, by the way, they’ve done this to themselves now multiple times. I mean, this is the story, this 112^th Congress does leave us today, and some would say finally leaves us, because this is the story of this Congress. Every major decision that they came up with, and it began with a threat of a government shut down just two months into this Congress. And then of course we had the debt ceiling showdown, then it culminated with this fiscal cliff and all we’ve done is created what’s coming in March, and Matt, what’s coming in March? Take all the fights we had separately and put them in one fight. And put them all expiring at the same time – debt ceiling, funding the entire federal government (that expires), and then this. …

“The relationship between House Speaker John Boehner and the White House is terrible. Let’s not pretend they can get anything done, and yet you still have to get something through the House. Perhaps this renewed relationship between the White House, Joe Biden, in particular, and Mitch McConnell is a way to get some things done, but it is going to dominate this thing, and one thing to look back here and to figure this out, Republicans have to figure out what they want. If you look back on it, Matt, this was a debacle for the Republican Party. I mean, yesterday we almost had the Republican leadership in the House almost completely undermine the Republican leadership in the Senate. It looked like they threatened to scuttle the whole thing, and they ended up helping Barack Obama raise taxes more than any Republican Party in a generation has helped anybody raise taxes, and they got nothing for it. … The Republican Party has to figure out what it wants to be, first, before they sit down at the negotiating table. And then they’ve got to figure out who’s going to do the negotiating for them. Is it Mitch McConnell? Is it John Boehner? Who runs the Republican Party? I think that’s unclear out of all of this. … Until the Republican Party figures is sort of unified in what it wants to do, it’s not going to be an effective negotiating force against the president.”

A tax hike or a tax cut? Which is it? Grover Norquist tweeted last night: “The Bush tax cuts lapsed at midnight last night. Every R voting for Senate bill is cutting taxes and keeping his/her pledge.”

Thought exercise though: How would it be a tax increase on Dec. 31 but a tax cut on Jan. 1, even if it was the same piece of legislation? That’s more of a question perhaps for Heritage, et al.

Simpson-Bowles see “missed opportunity”… Simpson and Bowles write in a statement from “Fix the Debt” that last night was a “missed opportunity.” Full statement:

“The deal approved today is truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long term fiscal problems, but it is a small step forward in our efforts to reduce the federal deficit.  It follows on the $1 trillion reduction in spending that was done in last year’s Budget Control Act. While both steps advance the efforts to put our fiscal house in order, neither one nor the combination of the two come close to solving our Nation's debt and deficit problems. Our leaders must now have the courage to reform our tax code and entitlement programs such that we stabilize our debt and put it on a downward path as a percent of the economy. Washington missed this magic moment to do something big to reduce the deficit, reform our tax code, and fix our entitlement programs. We have all known for over a year that this fiscal cliff was coming.  In fact Washington politicians set it up to force themselves to seriously deal with our Nation’s long term fiscal problems. Yet even after taking the Country to the brink of economic disaster, Washington still could not forge a common sense bipartisan consensus on a plan that stabilizes the debt.

“It is now more critical than ever that policymakers return to negotiations that will build on the terms of this agreement and the spending cuts in the Budget Control Act. These future negotiations will need to make the far more difficult reforms that bring spending further under control, make our entitlement programs sustainable and solvent, and reform our tax code to both promote growth and produce revenue.  We take some encouragement from the statements by the President and leaders in Congress that they recognize more work needs to be done.  In order to reach an agreement, it will be absolutely necessary for both sides to move beyond their comfort zone and reach a principled agreement on a comprehensive plan which puts the debt on a clear downward path relative to the economy.”

Gentlemen, language, please… Politico’s provocative lede: “House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday. It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a ‘dictatorship’ in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal. ‘Go f— yourself,’ Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present. Reid, a bit startled, replied: ‘What are you talking about?’ Boehner repeated: ‘Go f— yourself.’

“The harsh exchange just a few steps from the Oval Office — which Boehner later bragged about to fellow Republicans — was only one episode in nearly two months of high-stakes negotiations laced with distrust, miscommunication, false starts and yelling matches as Washington struggled to ward off $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts.”

CHASER: "I can't tell him to do that. That. He can't do that to himself. You're crazy. You're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden." -- Clint Eastwood, Aug. 30, 2012, during RNC Convention speech.

Step back… For all the drama and ugliness of sausage making, step back and realize there were two votes on major legislation yesterday 20 hours apart.

Fly-by signing… The bill will be flown out to Hawaii for President Obama to sign.

Sandy funding… Notice, by the way, that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut lawmakers were irate last night that, despite what they say were promises made by GOP leadership, Sandy funding wasn’t considered after the fiscal-cliff vote. Rep. Peter King, a Republican, is making the cable rounds today. NBC’s Frank Thorp has the details.

And what about guns? National Journal… National Journal notes that pro-gun Democrats could pave the way for new gun measures. From the story: Pennsylvania Sen. Bob "Casey’s introspection isn’t a unique tale among normally pro-gun Democrats. Across Capitol Hill, lawmakers ranging from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky are acknowledging that last week’s tragedy has, at least for now, left them open to reconsidering measures they once staunchly opposed.”

Message will matter, says Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), an avid hunter and Vietnam vet: “Well, we can start by not calling it ‘gun control.’”

But sticking point: “Not all Democrats are conceding that gun-control measures need to be taken. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a longtime advocate of gun owners, isn’t making a decision right away on where he stands, despite being hounded with questions about it. He said he needs to hear from his constituents before he can decide on whether to vote for an assault-weapons ban or other gun laws that could be considered in the Senate.”