Date Set for Leadership Elections

House Speaker John Boehner says the election to choose his successor as speaker will be held a week from tomorrow.

Boehner announced his resignation on Friday, under pressure from tea party Republicans.

The man who's now the second-ranking Republican in the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, is looking for conservative support for his bid to succeed Boehner. Conservatives tried yesterday to draft South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy for the job. He chairs the committee looking into the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya. But Gowdy took himself out of the running late yesterday.

McCarthy told Fox News yesterday that the Benghazi investigation can be given the credit for Hillary Rodham Clinton's dropping poll numbers -- a comment that Democrats say undermines Republican claims that the committee is simply trying to uncover the truth.

McCarthy also said he gives Boehner a B-minus grade as speaker. He said he would differ from Boehner by being "a conservative speaker that takes a conservative Congress that puts a strategy to fight and win."