As John Boehner entered his first meeting as majority leader of the House of Representatives on Friday, he still seemed surprised by his new job. “I feel like the dog who caught the car,” the Ohio Republican said. But he quickly looked forward, promising a push to make President George W. Bush’s first-term tax cuts permanent.

That, in a nutshell, is what Mr Boehner’s upset victory was all about: a desire for a new face, and fresh attention to the Republican agenda. Whether it is enough to move the party past recent scandals and help it hold on to its majority in the November 2006 midterm elections remains to be seen.