Replace John Boehner With ... Jon Huntsman?

With John Boehner's Plan B budget bill bounced, the House speaker's chances of getting reelected on Jan. 3 are dwindling rapidly. Conservatives Republicans firmly control their party, but they lack the votes to push through legislation or compromise with Democrats, so it's time for unconventional alternatives, writes Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute in the Washington Post. It's time to elect a speaker from outside the House of Representatives.

After all, nothing in the Constitution requires the speaker of the House to be a member. Ornstein's top choices are Jon Huntsman and Mitch Daniels. Both are Republicans with solid conservative credentials, but also the proven ability to compromise and work with Democrats. "America’s political dysfunction is driven by a Republican Party that has become an insurgent outlier," writes Ornstein. "It may be time for a different kind of out-of-the-box action." Read the full column here. (More Norman Ornstein stories.)