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Majority Rules in Name Change for Blog on U.S. House

We’re giving a new name to what should be a very familiar blog.

Staff reporters Emma Dumain and Matt Fuller will now be filing multiple posts a day to “218,” just as they have been doing for the past few months to the old “Goppers,” one of the most popular destinations on rollcall.com.

The name change reflects the new reality in the House of Representatives, where the Republican leadership used to set an agenda that everyone in Washington set their clocks by. Hence a blog that focused almost exclusively on GOP’s inner machinations.

Today’s House is more of a roiling cauldron of conflicting agendas, ambitions and partisan food fights. Speaker John A. Boehner is still the center of most the action, but other power centers are cropping up every day — some in his own GOP caucus, others over in the Democratic side of the aisle — demanding coverage and Roll Call’s signature political analysis.

The number 218, of course, is the threshhold of votes needed to pass a bill, adopt an amendment, approve a motion to recommit, or otherwise get your way on the House floor (assuming a full House of 435 members).

Whatever it takes to get to 218 is what everyone in Washington will be watching closely in the coming months. And that’s what this blog — and its authors Dumain and Fuller — will be covering like glue.

Join us here for the first and last words on all the things that matter in the U.S. House. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

 

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