“The adage has always been that the Republicans are like a well-oiled machine, Denny Hastert and the Hammer,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who as co-chair of the Progressive Caucus sometimes clashed with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) when she was Speaker. “But here, they look like they’re herding cats and we [Democrats] look tight.”

Of course, Scalise and other Republican leaders don’t have access to the some of the “persuasive” tools that their predecessors had. Leaders like DeLay could dangle – or threaten to withhold – earmarks for federal spending to compel members to fall in line, but the House GOP conference banned them in 2010.

And Scalise is still nurturing his relationship with K Street. At a January meeting at the Capitol Hill Club, Scalise introduced his whip and fundraising team to more than 300 lobbyists and consultants.

While DeLay’s coziness with K Street ultimately led to his political demise, it served his immediate successor, Roy Blunt, extremely well.

Then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) “has assembled an organization of whips and lobbyist vote counters that has delivered more than 50 consecutive victories for the GOP leadership on tough fights over issues including tax and trade bills, District of Columbia school choice and tort reform – without a single defeat,” The Washington Post wrote in a 2005 profile of Blunt, the now-U.S. senator who had once served as DeLay’s chief deputy whip.