When that happens, there’s a period when people can explain their votes before a final tally is recorded. That went on for a while as Busch’s leadership team circled around the floor, twisting arms and letting people off the hook, while green and red dots appeared next to delegates’ names on the big display boards on the walls. Mr. Ehrlich’s top aides sat in the galleries feverishly counting. (I was sitting next to them, doing the same.) Busch was the only one who could see on a computer screen in front of him a running tally of how many yeas and how many nays had been recorded. Amid a speech by someone, on orders to stall for time, the tally hit 71 — a constitutional majority in the 141 member House, and Busch cut in, “And the clerk will take the call.”