designate, at least from the conference vote. it looks like paul ryan has made it through this first hurdle. i don t anticipate any surprises. i anticipate he will be the next speaker. he ironed out all the people who would be in favor of him before they got to this stage. he met with the freedom caucus and two other conservative and moderate caucuses within the republican party. he wouldn t have gone down this path this far for a vote unless he thought he had it. remember he was the only one, at this point, who was willing to do this job and also able to get the 218 necessary votes in order to win the job.
keep the conversation going by heading to pulse.msnbc.com. let s turn to breaking news right now on capitol hill. congressman paul ryan likely to be the next speaker of the house. just a few moements ago while h was leaving a meeting with his staff, nbc s luke russert, one of the most aggressive reporters on the hill, landed a few moments with the wisconsin congressman. what did ryan have to say, sir? reporter: yeah, hey, craig. a big day for paul ryan. he had a meeting with some skeptical house conservatives who are still pondering whether or not he would be acceptable for speaker, and he did a pretty good job when he left that meeting, rather when the conservatives left that meeting they said they were open to actually supporting paul ryan on the floor if he were to win the conference vote. he will win the conference vote next wednesday. it s that floor vote, he is keen to get at least 235 votes on the floor from the republican conference so that there s no question that he is in
how do you know we re not on the program? you re doing we support paul ryan. if he wins a conference vote will you support his agenda. i have five policy principles it s not a hard question. will you support if you d let me answer it would be easier. i have five policy on my web page and five process. if he goes with that you re holding the caucus hostage. the answer is yes i will support paul ryan but paul ryan is a very smart man. the underlying governing and political dynamic of the house has not changed. paul ryan, if he becomes speaker, i hope he does, he will have to make accommodations and collaborate with the democrats to pass a debt ceiling, to pass a budget agreement. if he does those things, he will have his legs taken out by some of his own members. we all know that. now, in he chooses to go with the status quo, the house will be mired in paralysis and the institution will be weaker. speaker would be weaker. he s going to have the same problems john bo
is certainly happening behind closed doors. it s a very exciting time for us. we re about to elect a new speaker. and i am confident that kevin mccarthy will be our next speaker. you are supporting, obviously, kevin mccarthy to be the next speaker. how much support do you think he can lose? i think kevin will ultimately at the end of the day have unanimous support. this first vote that s going to take place today at 12:00 is the conference vote. and the conference vote, obviously, is the republicans making our nominee. and i believe he will come out of that meeting with the support he needs to have on the floor on october 29th. daniel webster, running for speaker today, you heard from him, i understand, behind closed doors and to our dana bash he refused to commit to voting for kevin mccarthy when the vote goes to the full house floor on october 29th.
these results to come back. thank you so much. you re welcome. well, turning now to first read on politics this morning, the house gop holds its secret ballot in the next half hour to nominate the next speaker. but a group of hard-line conservatives says it s not backing the current number two, kevin mccarthy. plus, why a taylor swift reference on the campaign trail has a student calling out john kasich. joining me now to talk about it, nbc news senior political editor, mark murray. so mark, let s talk about what will happen today with the house gop in this conference vote. yeah, tamron, it s important to understand is our house producer, alex moe has pointed out that today s election is just on the republican conference side. this is essentially republicans nominee to be the next speaker. october 29th is when the full house, democrats and republicans, will end up selecting the next speaker. you ll need 218 votes for that, if all house members end up voting. today the winner