It was the latest tweak to a process that's gotten more flamboyant in the era of TV and instant video virality. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) mocked the Democrats who read their text from notecards. “Without using a script, I vote for Paul Ryan,” he said. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) was just as cheeky, rising to support Ryan (R-Wis.) for speaker “because the peoples' House should be in order." (As a state legislator in Illinois' Democratic-dominated House, Bost was famous for table-slamming and paper-tossing outbursts that made the news.)

But as the vote dragged on, and it was clear that Democrats would keep registering futile protests to the Ryan win, Republicans calmed down. Richard B. Cheney, whose daughter Liz is being sworn in today as the only member of the House from Wyoming, looked on with a look of bemusement as the protests got more colorful — and as some Republicans gave their own, sporting, "un-protests."

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“Because health care is a right, not a privilege, I vote for Nancy Pelosi,” Rep. Al Green (D-Calif.) said.

“Having been told Republican input was not wanted or needed in Obamacare, I vote for Paul Ryan,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) said.

“Because climate change is not a Chinese hoax, Nancy Pelosi,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said.

The wordplay marked what was actually the least contentious speaker vote since 2009, when Pelosi — for the last time — secured the vote of every Democratic member. In 2011, after the Democrats' landslide midterm defeats, half a dozen Democrats defected from Pelosi to cast meaningless votes for someone else. In 2013 and 2015, a rump of conservative Republicans opposed John A. Boehner, leaving a little suspense about whether he could secure the votes.

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This year's roll call saw only four House members protest-vote for someone besides their party leaders. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), who habitually votes against Pelosi, cast his vote for Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who came up short in a December challenge to Pelosi's leadership. Rep. Ron Kind (R-Wis.), a budget hawk whose rural Wisconsin district swung dramatically toward Donald Trump last year, voted for Cooper. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), whose suburban Phoenix district swung just as dramatically toward Clinton — the Democrat carried it by 17 points — cast a protest vote for Lewis.

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For a while, it seemed that Ryan might win the support of every member. Indeed, despite his conference shrinking by six members after the 2016 election, Ryan got more votes for speaker than Boehner had in 2013 and 2015.

But the roll call came for the members of Congress whose last name began with “M,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ken.) got in one vote for a Florida congressman who briefly ran for the speaker's gavel in 2015.