By the numbers: Who's for and against Boehner

WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has just one stick to hold onto power but it's a big one: He can strip lawmakers of prized committee assignments and chairmanships.

This powerful threat most likely explains why so few conservatives have publicly announced they will oppose Boehner in Tuesday's election for the top post in the House.

As of Monday, only a dozen current and incoming House members had said they would vote for one of Boehner's three opponents. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., have announced their candidacies; Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., is expected to announce Tuesday.

But, on Tuesday morning, opposition to Boehner seemed to be growing as Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa told WND he believed 14 or 15 House members were now against Boehner and would soon go public, and he turned out to be correct.

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The 15 lawmakers who have announced their opposition to Boehner  are:

• Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas

• Rep. Ted Yoho, Fla.

• Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa

• Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich.

• Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.

• Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kans.

• Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas

• Rep. Curtis Clawson, R-Fla.

• Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla.

• Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va.

• Rep. Walter Jones, N.C.

• Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala.

• Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

• Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.

• Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.

And the following GOP House members said prior to the 2014 election that they would vote against Boehner:

• Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga.

• Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas

• Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga.

King also believed anti-Boehner sentiment was "picking up momentum" and described an "ever-intensifying effort to organize opposition for the floor vote."

The House vote for speaker is expected to occur at 12:40 p.m. and will be live-streamed on CSPAN.

Despite the relatively few lawmakers opposed to Boehner, there has been no public stampede of support for the speaker, with the vast silence indicating many of those uncommitted lawmakers are quite possibly undecided voters.

A quick look at the numbers shows the "undecideds" hold the balance of power, and could easily amass the 28 votes needed to send the vote to a second ballot. (Only 28 votes are now needed following the resignation of Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., after pleading guilty to tax evasion.)

If Boehner does not win on the first ballot, his challengers hope that would encourage more lawmakers to rebel and trigger a groundswell to unseat Boehner.

The size of the conservative contingent of GOP lawmakers in the House can be roughly estimated by the size of the Tea Party Caucus, which has about 45 current members.

With King's estimate of as many as 15 House members prepared to oppose Boehner, that leaves about 30 conservatives Republicans yet to commit, and those votes are theoretically up for grabs.

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And that gives these 30 "undecideds" the power to force a second ballot, should they choose to rebel against Boehner.

Even 20 more anti-Boehner votes would force a second ballot, when combined with the dozen already opposed to the speaker.

WND’s Joseph Farah is championing the grass-roots “Don’t Be Yellow: Dump Boehner Now!” campaign, which has already sent some 560,000 letters to House Republicans attempting to mobilize the palace coup.

So, WND contacted 21 of the most-well known of these conservatives, but received scant responses as to how they may vote, as they perhaps weigh the risk of retaliation versus the reward of replacing Boehner with a more conservative leader:

• Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah

• Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas

• Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla.

• Rep. Jeff Duncan, S.C.

• Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas

• Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.

• Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.

• Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

• Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kans.

• Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio

• Rep.-elect Mia Love, R-Utah

• Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.

• Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.

• Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas

• Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

• Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif.

• Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.

• Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb.

• Rep. Lamar S. Smith, R-Texas

• Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga.

• Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.

These might be the lawmakers to contact, for voters wishing to oust Boehner, but some are unlikely to be persuaded.

Lummis responded to WND with a statement that read:

"The time to run for speaker was at the Republican Conference elections held on November 13, and at that time John Boehner was the only one to stand up. This sudden, last-ditch effort to unseat Boehner is ill-timed and unsupported. Mr. Boehner and I do not see eye to eye on every issue, but voting against a speaker who ran unopposed and was unanimously chosen by Republicans in November will only hurt Wyoming."

And the man who seconded the nomination of Boehner at that conference? Gowdy, the very same lawmaker many have urged to run against Boehner. It is widely believed the popular Gowdy would not want to risk losing his chairmanship of the Benghazi select committee should he unsuccessfully oppose the speaker.

WND was told Rohrabacher was "keeping his options open."

A spokesperson for incoming conservative lawmaker Love had a "no comment" for WND.

Boehner did not hesitate to discipline leaders of the dozen dissenters who voted against the speaker the last time.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., was removed from the agriculture committee, and he and Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., were both thrown off the budget committee in late 2012 after they opposed Boehner in the last election for speaker. Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz. was kicked off the financial services committee.

Huelskamp had indicated he will vote for Boehner this time but changed his mind.

Schweikart said he would not oppose Boehner.

Reps. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., who previously opposed Boehner, both plan vote for him this time.

Mulvaney used a Facebook post to tell voters urging him to oppose Boehner, "I had that fight two years ago ... remember? ... we failed miserably, and all it did was marginalize conservatives. I fail to see how the same thing wouldn't happen again."

He added, "I am all for having a good fight ... in fact, it is part of my job that I really enjoy sometimes ... but at the same time, I do remember Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome."

Another pair of House members who voted against Boehner two years ago have yet to publicly commit: Reps. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and Justin Amash, R-Mich.

The chief of staff for incoming Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, told WND the congressman's decision is still very much "in process" and that Young was attempting to interview all three announced candidates for the job of speaker.

On Tuesday morning, King told WND that incoming Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas and incoming congressman Curtis Clawson, R-Fla., declared their opposition to Boehner last night. King expected Rep. Daniel Webster would do the same, soon.

Gosar told WND he is "still considering the available options but he is supportive of the alternatives to Speaker Boehner including Reps. Gohmert and Yoho."

Brat pledged to support Boehner in November but changed his mind Sunday, saying, "While I like Speaker Boehner personally, he will not have my support for speaker."

Perhaps surprisingly, King is not supporting his often-close colleague, Gohemert, but instead said he will support Webster, with whom he has been discussing this eventuality for two years.

King called Webster a good candidate who "understands that the role of any leader is to bring out the will of the group, not to impose their will on the group."

Bridenstine said he is looking for leadership who will restore the respect for the constitution and for the traditional "regular order" in Congress that will allow considerate deliberation and debate.

Many conservatives were upset Boehner allowed a budget bill to pass without challenging President Obama on funding for his executive amnesty or Obamacare.

Bridenstine said, "Speaker Boehner went too far when he teamed with Obama to advance this legislation. He relinquished the power of the purse, and with it he lost my vote,"

Incoming Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., said he told Boehner personally back in October that the speaker wouldn't have his vote.

Jones has been saying he'll oppose Boehner since before Christmas, when he told a local radio station he and up to 18 other conservatives were trying to find a good candidate to replace the speaker.

Massie tweeted a photo last week of a McDonald’s drive-through sign reading: “NEXT SPEAKER PLEASE.”

If elected speaker, Gohmert promised his top priorities would be using the power of the purse to defund amnesty, Obamacare and to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

House members may be misreading the sentiment of voters, who have indicated they would have lawmakers' backs, were they to dump Boehner.

WND's "Dump Boerhner" campaign has generated more than 500,000 letters urging House members to fire the speaker.

And a recent poll found 60-percent of Republican voters want a new speaker.

Additionally, callers urging lawmakers to vote against Boehner were reportedly jamming the House switchboard on Monday.

JOIN THE DON'T BE YELLOW, DUMP BOEHNER NOW CAMPAIGN.