The U.S. House of Representatives elects its first...

Italian-American Speaker.

(What did you expect? My maternal great-grandparents are from Florence and Naples. And I don't mean Florence, Arizona and Naples, Florida.)

Nancy Pelosi's election marks a lot of other firsts, including the first time the House has elected a woman as Speaker, but all of those pale in comparison.

:))

Note: all times given are MST.

The vote, announced at 11:43 a.m. , went as expected: 233 for Pelosi and 202 for John Boehner of Ohio.

The Speaker took her oath of office at 12:30 p.m.; the members-elect took theirs at 12:33.

The press release concerning today's events from Congressman Mitchell's House website can be found here. Please note that Congressman Mitchell's website is currently just a placeholder; there isn't any CD5 info on it yet.

[Not to suggest the election of the Speaker was a foregone conclusion, but the press release was available even before the House was gavelled into order today.]

Let it be noted that the first official vote in the House by newly-elected Congressman Harry Mitchell was cast at 11:13 a.m. MST in support of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.

Other impressions and images from opening of Congress:

...Tony Bennett was in the gallery. Turns out he was there with Speaker Pelosi's family from Maryland (she's a native of MD).

...Former Speaker Tom Foley was present, too.

...During the Speaker's election, the Republicans looked like they were at a wake.

...During the same period, the Democrats looked relaxed and comfortable.

...During much of the call to quorum, John Shadegg stood next to former speaker Dennis Hastert.

In what may be an appropriate metaphor, they were on the fringes of the chamber.

...Didn't get to see Harry Mitchell on TV, but CD8's Gabrielle Giffords was shown a few times.

More later!