'I don't know, quite frankly, whether victory will come on the third Sunday in March or on the first Tuesday in November, but victory will come,' House Republican Conference leader Mike Pence told Republicans Saturday afternoon. House Republicans begin victory lap

As Democrats frantically tried to cobble together votes to pass their sweeping health care reform legislation Saturday, House Republicans began a victory lap of sorts.

First, in a meeting of the House Republican Conference, the GOP’s leadership rallied the troops with flourishing rhetoric about regaining the majority in the fall.


“I don’t know, quite frankly, whether victory will come on the third Sunday in March or on the first Tuesday in November, but victory will come,” House Republican Conference leader Mike Pence of Indiana told Republicans Saturday afternoon.

And when they emerged from the room to speak to the media and a crush of video cameras, House Republican leaders were met by a boisterous crowd of citizens screaming “kill the bill” and nodding in unison to their promises to continue the fight to derail the legislation.

Saturday’s schedule gives an idea of how confident Republicans are feeling. Republicans opened up their closed conference meeting to television cameras and reporters, GOP lawmakers were hosting telephone town halls in Democratic swing districts and Republicans were whipping undecided Democrats to vote against the legislation they’ve been wrangling over for more than a year.

This all comes after a week where House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio gave a series of interviews expressing confidence that Republicans could take back the House in November.

“There are more activities going on than you would see in a normal campaign,” Boehner told reporters.

Boehner, who helped orchestrate the 1994 GOP takeover of the House, was somewhat of a rock star Saturday. He ditched his black SUV for a trip back from the Cannon House Office building to the Capitol, crossing Independence Avenue on foot to waves of cheers. He posed for a photo – the unfortunate gentleman’s camera was full – and even kissed a woman on a motorized scooter.

Perhaps the most stunning – and unscripted – moment for Republicans came when they emerged from their conference meeting to a stakeout point that’s typically filled with a handful of Capitol Hill reporters. Roughly 100 citizens gathered in the Cannon rotunda – held back by Capitol Police officers – cheering the GOP’s leadership.

The rhetoric was hardly new – Republicans rehashed many of the same lines they’ve been using for about a year. But judging by the crowd’s response, it seemed as if the party’s leadership had spontaneously topped Shakespeare.

“It’s important that they understand that its not the president’s House, that it’s not the speaker’s House, that it’s the people’s House, and this weekend House Republicans will stand with the American people and do everything in our power to defend their freedom and bring about health care reform that gives them more freedom and not more government,” Pence said to cheers.

Even Rep. Paul Ryan, the wonky top Republican on the Budget committee, got his moment.

“They don’t now have the votes for it and I sure hope they won’t,” he said.

They struck a populist tone, much to the delight of the crowd. Boehner said he was trying to coax House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to force her members to go to the floor and before "God, their countrymen and their constituents," and unveil how they would vote.

“I thank all of the Americans that have come here to join us in this fight – the fight is nearing an end, but if we continue to work hard and listen to the American people, we can defeat this bill,” House Minority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia said.

Perhaps he was feeling the energy from the crowd, but less than an hour after he told his conference that they couldn’t stop the bill, even calling Sunday Armegeddon, Boehner had a new message for the crowd gathered in the Cannon Rotunda.

“This health care bill would ruin our country,” he said. “It’s time to stop it.”

One person in the crowd responded, “That’s right.”