Revealed: How Boehner Almost Lost His Gavel

You will recall that last week we were all but predicting that House Speaker John Boehner would be dethroned.

It turns out we were almost prophetic.
Roll Call is now out with a revealing story that details how those opposed to Boehner came thisclose to dethroning him. But for one vote, Boehner would have been forced into a second ballot and at that point anything could have happened.
Here's an excerpt:

A concerted effort to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner was under way the day of his re-election to the position, but participants called it off 30 minutes before the House floor vote, CQ Roll Call has learned.
A group of disaffected conservatives had agreed to vote against the Ohio lawmaker if they could get at least 25 members to join the effort. But one member, whose identity could not be verified, rescinded his or her participation the morning of the vote, leaving the group one person short of its self-imposed 25-member threshold. Only 17 votes against Boehner were required to force a second ballot, but the group wanted to have insurance.
Even with 24 members, the group would easily have been able to force a second ballot round, but the effort was aborted in frenetic discussions on the House floor. . . . After the plot was called off, those who had joined it were released and given the approval to vote however they liked, and roughly half of the group abstained or voted against Boehner. Each abstention actually lowered the amount of votes Boehner needed to win re-election, as winning the speakership requires garnering only a majority of those who voted, as opposed to a majority of sitting House members.