It was just over a week ago when House majority leader Kevin McCarthy first considered dropping out of the race for speaker.

The problems began on Tuesday, September 29, when the California Republican did a day-long media blitz as he campaigned to win support of the House GOP conference. The day ended with an appearance on Fox News’s Hannity, where McCarthy, pressed by Sean Hannity to show what House Republicans had done for conservatives, cited the Benghazi select committee’s findings on Hillary Clinton’s email and how those had hurt the Democrat’s presidential campaign. Democrats jumped all over the gaffe.