GEOFF BENNETT: House Republicans are gathered behind closed doors tonight to try to pick their next speaker.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins spent the day polling Republican members and joins us now from Capitol Hill.

So, Lisa, are Republicans circling in on a consensus choice at this hour?

LISA DESJARDINS: It's not clear that they are yet, Geoff.

They have two candidates right now.

That is current House Majority Leader, the number two, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and then Jim Jordan, a congressman from Ohio and House Judiciary chairman.

So, what is going to happen now, what's happening as I speak to you, is those two men are giving speeches to their conference, taking questions in a forum that I'm told could get pretty fiery.

And we're not clear on how long it will go.

There will be closing remarks as well.

There won't be a vote until tomorrow.

That's when this same group of Republicans will meet again behind closed doors, hold a secret ballot vote.

Both of these men have dozens of endorsements, but they need to get 217 votes in order to become speaker of the House.

And there's only 221 Republicans.

It's not a lot of give room.

Essentially, they have to get a near-unanimous endorsement.

And there's two of them running.

Also in playing here, Geoff, there are some who want to change the rules, so that only a speaker -- they will only nominate a speaker if they get 217 Republican votes behind closed doors, essentially trying to avoid those 15 ballots that happened earlier this year for Kevin McCarthy on the House floor.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Lisa, both Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are well-known among members of the House Republican Conference.

I mean, what's the pitch that these men are making as they vie for House speaker?

LISA DESJARDINS: It's interesting.

They're essentially from the same generation.

They have been here about the same amount of time.

And they're both well-known leaders.

But let's look at their pitches, what I'm hearing from them and their allies today.

Steve Scalise, again, from Louisiana, he is pitching himself as someone who is a strong conservative with those credentials, touting himself as a good fund-raiser, also saying he's got deep relationships in the conference.

He's known as being affable.

He is the current number two.

Now, one question mark for some members, like Ralph Norman of South Carolina, is, Scalise is fighting a form of blood cancer.

He says it was found early and he has good chances of recovery.

But that's something that members are actually thinking about.

Now, Jim Jordan, he also is well-known.

Let's go through what he is pitching himself as.

His group is saying that he is a unifier.

He is going to -- he is more trustworthy.

That is something sort of related to Kevin McCarthy and the lack of trust that some members have from him.

He is also saying he's hawkish on Israel and crime.

He is saying that he tonight will lay out his own vision for how to deal with the next spending and funding deadline in November.

And he is also known as confrontational.

I don't have to tell you that or our viewers.

That is something that goes both ways.

Some in the base love that about him.

He also is known -- in the past, he was accused of knowing about sexual assaults and he was a wrestling assistant coach at Ohio State University.

He has denied knowing anything about that, but some of those wrestlers involved have stuck to their story as well, saying that, in fact, he did.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, you have got the ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

He seems to be cracking the door open to returning.

Where is he in this race?

LISA DESJARDINS: So interesting.

He cracked that door open yesterday, Geoff.

And now he has closed the door, at least for now.

The former speaker said he was open to potentially coming back.

But then, tonight, just in the past little bit, he came out and told reporters that he has now asked members not to nominate him.

He said he has not chosen who to support himself.

Now, that does make the math a little bit easier for the House Republicans.

Having Kevin McCarthy at play could have made things more complicated.

There are some members who told me, frankly, they would like Kevin McCarthy to come back.

So I'm not entirely sure that he's completely out of the realm of consideration, but he has said tonight that he wants them to take him out of nomination, at least for now.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Lisa, in the 30 seconds we have left, how is the violence in the Middle East affecting the search for a speaker?

Is that focusing the minds of lawmakers at all?

LISA DESJARDINS: The stakes have been raised incredibly.

Let's look over exactly something that Laura was talking about.

There could be more funding requests coming very soon, but the problem is, having this speaker, the temporary speaker, in place means that essentially no bills can pass through the House.

Now, the speaker pro tem, the temporary speaker, can perhaps ask to be given temporary powers, but there is no talk about that.

This is uncharted territory, Geoff.

It's not clear what the temporary speaker can and cannot do.

So, for now, he's doing nothing, and that means no legislation, including money for Israel or Ukraine, can move in Congress at all.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins, thanks, as always.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.