I had a conversation with a lobbyist last night about the leadership (or lack thereof) in the House, and he had some interesting observations. “At the start of the session, I thought the divisions from the speaker’s race had really weakened Straus. I kept waiting for the meltdown. It never came. I think the members looked around, saw that they could do anything they wanted to do without the chair’s interference, and they thought, ‘Hey, this isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s pretty good.’ The bottom line: He thinks Straus is in better shape than he’s ever been.