John Boehner

WASHINGTON -- At a closed door meeting with rank-and-file Republicans, House Speaker John A. Boehner reiterated his concerns the party could lose control of the House majority this fall, giving his troops file a sober reminder of the challenge ahead. "We've got a fight on our hands," Boehner said later Tuesday. Boehner has been tamping down expectations Republicans will retain their hold on the House, even as his No. 2, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), said last week he expects the GOP to pick up seats.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in town as president of the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors, said that try as he might, he could not get face time with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to talk job creation. "Unfortunately, after a few weeks of trying, we were unable to get a meeting with Speaker Boehner," Villaraigosa said Tuesday. "They couldn't find time to meet with America's mayors. " Boehner's office did not immediately comment. Villaraigosa is having sit-downs with Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, as well as Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada during the D.C. visit.

TAMPA, Fla. - House Speaker John A. Boehner opened prime time at the Republican National Convention with a rousing call to toss President Obama from office. Boehner told the story of having worked in his family's bar when he was growing up in Cincinnati, where he learned to deal with “every character who walked in the door.” “So let's say right now, a guy walked into our bar and said, 'The private sector is doing fine,' ” said Boehner, the convention chairman, as Tuesday's main session got underway.

At the nation's Roman Catholic universities, controversy over the choice of commencement speakers has become almost as regular an annual ritual as graduation itself. Two years ago, conservative Catholics made a major issue of President Obama's speech to Notre Dame's graduating class. Their argument was that no Catholic institution ought to honor anyone who favors abortion rights. This spring's contretemps is a bit of a mirror image of that one: More than 70 leading Catholic scholars have sent a pointedly critical letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio)

House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered a candid assessment of the Republicans' chances of holding on to the House. In an interview with Fox News Channel that aired Tuesday, the Ohio Republican put the GOP's odds of another term as the majority party at 2 in 3. "But there's a 1-in-3 chance that we could lose," Boehner told the network's Bill Hemmer, adding that he was being his usual "frank" self. "We've got work to do. " Republicans hold a 242-190 advantage in the House of Representatives, with three additional seats vacant that were previously held by Democrats.

Obama and the speaker Re "The tongue-tied speaker," Editorial, Feb. 15 House Speaker John A. Boehner's adamant choice of silence as a response to accusations that President Obama is not an American makes him complicit in nothing short of perpetuating slander against the presidency. His rationalization that confronting constituents with the facts means telling people what to "think" is vacuous. At least Sen. John McCain had the guts and decency to speak the truth when the opportunity presented itself.

King deserved better Re "The last of 'Larry King Live,' " Opinion, Dec. 16 Obviously, Meghan Daum is not, nor has she ever been, a fan of Larry King. And it is also quite possible that she doesn't like hosted talk shows. No problem. But the manner in which Daum infers that King hadn't a clue as to what he was talking about is over the top. King always was prepared, and he had the backup cards and salient material to prove it. As one of television's leading personalities for years, King did not need the few inches that The Times and Daum deigned to give him ?

John Boehner is hardly a household name, but President Obama seems set on making him one. Obama gave Boehner a major cameo in his speech outside Cleveland on Wednesday, seeking to create a useful foil for his argument that Congress should remain under Democratic control. As House Republican leader, Boehner once summarized his approach to the Obama agenda in two words: "Hell, no!" "You need a device if you're going to have a debate, because you can't have a debate against a vacuum," a senior White House aide said in an interview Thursday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's thinking.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi has reached out to the man who is expected to be her successor as speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. John Boehner (R- Ohio) said Wednesday. "The speaker attempted to reach me this morning, left me a very nice voicemail and I expect that we will have a very smooth transition with her office," Boehner told a televised news conference. He did not release any details of Pelosi's comments. Pelosi (D- San Francisco), who easily won reelection to her congressional seat, was a prime target for Republicans who opposed her liberalism and made her the face of their drive to control the House.

Reporting from Baltimore A former plastics salesman, House Speaker John A. Boehner stood before the unwieldy GOP majority with a pitch: Members must stick together like never before, not only for the sake of their agenda in Congress, but for the larger prize of reclaiming the White House this fall. It was a complicated sell at the GOP's annual retreat here as Boehner faced rambunctious lawmakers still intent on changing how Washington does business. Though Republicans said they were humbled and frustrated by last year's bruising political warfare, some in the tea-party-powered majority are ready to go at it again.