‘One more embarrassment’: McCarthy debacle wearily received in California home town

Bakersfield, in California's unfashionable Central Valley, has been thrown back into focus by the sorry saga in Congress

Kevin McCarthy's home town - the hardscrabble city of Bakersfield, in California's Central Valley - has experienced plenty of bruised feelings over the past week, but not necessarily because people have felt the pain of their congressman's tortured path to the House speakership.

Many have bristled at being under a national spotlight during what even Fox News has described as a political clown show. Local Republicans appeared increasingly defensive as McCarthy fell short in vote after vote - before finally prevailing in the early hours of Saturday morning. Democrats, meanwhile, expressed growing concern that McCarthy had been taken captive by his party's far-right wing and, especially, by apologists for the violent insurrection at the US Capitol two years ago.