Well, here’s a little hardball:
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s open defiance of Speaker John Boehner’s efforts to solve the debt-ceiling crisis could cost the Urbana Republican his safe seat in next year’s election.
Two Republican sources deeply involved in configuring new Ohio congressional districts confirmed to The Dispatch today that Jordan’s disloyalty to Boehner has put him in jeopardy of being zeroed out of a district.
“Jim Jordan’s boneheadedness has kind of informed everybody’s thinking,” said one of the sources, both of whom spoke only on condition of anonymity. “The easiest option for everybody has presented itself.”
Jordan’s rural 11-county district, which has a 60 percent Republican voter index, “is easy to cannibalize because it stretches so far,” said the other source.
Jim Jordan is the head of the radical Paul Weyrich-inspired Republican Study Committee and one of his staffers got busted for sending out emails to conservative groups encouraging them to rally against the Speaker’s bill. Rep. Jordan apologized on his staffer’s behalf, but it looks like he may still pay a price for whipping against the leadership.
Eric Cantor is no Tom DeLay. Neither is Kevin McCarthy. But it looks like at least someone is willing to crack a skull or two to get this bill over to the Senate where it can die.
