The New Year begins with fireworks on Capitol Hill as Members of the Senate celebrate their swearings-in to the 118th Congress while Members of the House, not yet sworn in, are still voting to select their new Speaker. At this writing, horses are being traded but the outcome remains something less than certain. Historians have dusted off record books dating back to the 34th Congress which saw the longest and perhaps most divisive contest for the Speaker’s gavel. It lasted from December 3, 1855 to February 2, 1856 and involved 21 candidates and 133 ballots.