No Challenge to Boehner in Vote for Speaker

A few protest votes "present" or for Allen West

The 113th Congress is now in session. The gavels have been dropped in both the House and Senate. So, work on the People's Business has begun.

The first bit of news to watch for is the election of the speaker in the House. It's expected that the incumbent, Republican Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, will win more than the 215 votes needed to keep that post (there are 429 members present today; if all 435 were there, he would need 218). We'll watch and update as the story develops.