COMPLETELY SHOCKED: After Eric Cantor ´earthquake,´ stunned House GOP seeks direction

◼ After Eric Cantor 'earthquake,' stunned House GOP seeks direction - Byron York/Washington Examiner @ByronYork

"Earthquake. The members are completely shocked," was the reaction of one House Republican lawmaker after Majority Leader Eric Cantor's out-of-the-blue loss to challenger Dave Brat Tuesday night. Trying to grasp the import of what happened, Republicans settled into two schools of thought.

The first was amazement at the sheer power of immigration as an issue in GOP contests. Many Republicans believe Cantor tried to play both sides of the street on the issue, on one side working on measures to ease the way for more young illegal immigrants to move into mainstream American society, and on the other assuring fellow Republicans that serious immigration reform would not happen this year....

Whatever the perspective, Cantor's defeat seems to be the final nail in the coffin -- there have been many -- of comprehensive immigration reform in 2014. "Although it is hard to ever pronounce it dead, given the interests involved, I do finally think amnesty is dead -- at least for this year," writes a GOP House lawmaker.

The other strain of thought among Republicans is speculation about what Cantor's defeat will mean for the House GOP leadership overall. Now that Cantor has gone down, can Speaker John Boehner survive?

The answer is unclear. But what is clear is that many Republican members will interpret Cantor's loss as a sign that the GOP leadership is even weaker than originally thought. "I think you will immediately see a lot of people start to put themselves up for leadership," the Republican lawmaker wrote. "Boehner is weak, and I think you could very well see a completely new slate of leaders next January."

◼ Virginia-7: Here the People Rule - Bill Kristol/Weekly Standard
◼ ‘Amnesty’ Has Claimed a Victim - Fred Barnes/Weekly Standard
◼ Cantor out in Tea Party shocker - The Hill