Did Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul influence their House colleagues at all during the debt ceiling debate?

Both were very openly opposed to any debt ceiling hike. But when I asked House majority leader Eric Cantor, who had stopped by National Review for a discussion this afternoon, if their dissent had had any impact on their House colleagues’ votes, he paused for a beat.

“I don’t know about that,” Cantor sighed finally.

After a colleague joked that GOP whip probably didn’t even have Ron Paul’s home phone number, Cantor recounted his efforts, when he was a deputy whip, to talk to Paul about votes.

“It was very educational,” Cantor said of his time with Paul. “He sent me some books after that.”