Rep. Chaffetz may well have thought that even if his run for Speaker did not succeed–it was always a longshot–it would at least earn him some favorable publicity and burnish his reputation. It does not appear to be having that effect. The Republicans most disaffected from the existing leadership do not appear to be uniting behind him–and in several cases are criticizing him. His old boss Jon Huntsman came out of hibernation to take a shot at him. I just spoke for a while with a Republican member of Congress who is backing McCarthy and critical of Chaffetz for having no strategy in this race and making overblown claims about his skills as a communicator. I asked if it is possible that Chaffetz will wind up with fewer votes than Rep. Daniel Webster. “Very much so” was the answer.