GOP Worries Mount That Boehner Lacks 'Killer Instinct'

After three stunning special-election losses, Republicans foresee and ugly November—and John Boehner is taking the heat. The House minority leader refused to push aside National Republican Congressional Committee chair Tom Cole, and many worry it’s too late for the impassive Boehner to change the game anyway, Politico reports. “This has all become about Boehner now, how he runs things,” said one insider.

Boehner reportedly failed to force leadership changes from Cole last year, and has been unable to get the campaign committee to engage in primary battles. "This is the equivalent of watching two doctors fight over how to treat a patient with a gaping wound," says an insider, "and as a compromise they decided to apply a Band-Aid to the wrong appendage." (More John Boehner stories.)