The person who becomes Speaker is the person with the majority of all votes cast -- regardless of party affiliation. So, it is theoretically possible that Rep. Hastert could become Speaker, even with Democrats holding the majority. One Independent [Rep. Virgil Goode, I-VA] and one Democrat [Jim Traficant, D-OH] have indicated they would vote to re-elect Rep. Hastert as Speaker in the next Congress. If Democrats take the majority with only a one or two vote margin, and if all Republicans support Hastert, but all Democrats do not support their candidate for Speaker, your scenario is possible.

There is no requirement for holding the office of Speaker other than election by the House by a majority vote. A Speaker does not even have to be a Member of the House, although he always has been. The Constitution simply says "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker. . . " and places no conditions on the choice.

Since the Civil War and the stability of the two party system as we know it today, no Speaker has been elected who was not also a Member of the majority party.

However, this was not always the case in House history.

In the Fourth Congress [1795-1797], Jonathan Dayton, a Federalist, was elected Speaker, although his party was in the minority.

In the Twenty-sixth Congress [1839-1841], Robert Hunter was elected Speaker by a House divided, 118 Democrats to 117 Whigs. The election took 20 days and 11 ballots. Hunter had been elected as a Whig but declared himself an Independent for the duration of his speakership [he had been an Independent in his state legislature].

As the Civil War approached, numerous factions appeared within the parties, and because of this lack of unity, it was not always true that the majority party controlled. The Speaker elected in the 34 Congress [1856-57], Nathaniel Banks, was elected by a plurality of various factions rather than by a majority of one party. His election came after two months and 133 ballots, and he was one of 21 candidates for the post.

A virtual unknown, William Pennington, was elected Speaker as a consensus candidate among various factions in the 36th Congress [1860-1861]. His election took two months, and 44 ballots.

The closest the majority party has come to falling short of electing its candidate Speaker in modern times, occurred in the 68th Congress [1923-1925]. A third party, the Progressives, had 20 votes and had nominated their own candidate. After 8 ballots and no clear majority, the Progressives were persuaded to vote for the Majority Republican's candidate, Frederick Gillet. He became Speaker, and in return the Progressives received some political advantages: favorable committee assignments and rules changes they had requested.