WASHINGTON – Speculation is surging here that restive conservatives might soon push their own candidate to run for majority leader in the House on a platform of right of center Republican ideals to challenge the acting majority leader, Roy Blunt, of Missouri, and the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, John Boehner, of Ohio, both of whom official announced over the weekend that they would be seeking the post.

The flurry of campaigning for the vacant leadership post of Rep. Thomas DeLay of Texas came just one day after the embattled former majority leader announced that, contrary to previous statements, he would not seek to regain his position if cleared of the corruption charges facing him in his native Texas.

The reversal has been largely attributed to mounting pressure from House Republicans, and concerns about Mr. DeLay’s ties to a prominent Washington lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, who last week pleaded guilty to bribery as part of a bargain in which he agreed to name Washington officials with whom he conducted improper business.

Mr. Blunt, the majority whip who has been filling in for Mr. DeLay since the Texan temporarily vacated his position after his September indictment, was widely expected to campaign for the majority leader post, and rushed into the power vacuum yesterday by stressing to fellow Republicans a commitment to small-government principles and lobbying reform.

“Unfortunately, the recent scandals have caused some to question whether we have lost our vision and whether the faith they have placed in us is justified,” Mr. Blunt wrote to the House Republican conference. “While I have no doubt that it is, it will be difficult to move forward with our platform until we regain the trust and confidence of our constituents by enacting new lobbying reforms and enhanced penalties for those who break the public trust.”

Mr. Blunt, 55, a five-term congressman who first rose to the ranks of the Republican leadership when he was tapped by Mr. DeLay to be chief deputy whip in 1999, is said to enjoy significant support as an experienced establishment candidate. He was described by observers on capital hill yesterday as being in the political center of the Republican conference, but less committed to spending cuts than many conservatives in the House. Some Housewatchers, however, said yesterday that Mr. Blunt’s very experience, and his intimacy with the current leadership, including Mr. DeLay, was a strike against his bid to become the next majority leader.

Those ties could benefit Mr. Boehner, who also announced his candidacy in a letter to the Republican conference yesterday. Indeed, Mr. Boehner, first elected in 1990 to a Democrat-controlled House, stressed in the missive his independence, saying that as a congressman in the minority it was easier to remain true to ideals, undistracted by majority concerns about retaining power.

“When I was a freshman serving in a Democrat-controlled Congress, it was relatively easy to expose corruption in the House bank; or as a sophomore, to help dismantle Hillary Clinton’s health care plan,” Mr. Boehner wrote. “Operating behind the enemy lines of the Beltway was easy, because the traditional forces driving Washington weren’t paying attention and we had no real chance for driving a legislative agenda.” Mr. Boehner, 56, was a member of the “Gang of Seven” young lawmakers who aggressively pursued the House bank scandal and others scandals that plagued Democrats in the early 1990s.

Mr. Boehner, like Mr. Blunt, is considered to be near the center of the Republican conference, and worked closely with Republican leadership as chairman of the Education and Workforce committee to pass the No Child Left Behind Act. Yet Mr. Boehner benefits, according to press accounts, from having been on the opposite side of Mr. DeLay in past leadership battles. Staff for Mr. Boehner said yesterday that the congressman had already secured the support of “dozens” of Republicans who were campaigning on Mr. Boehner’s behalf, including John Kline, of Minnesota; Devin Nunes, of California; Jim Sax ton, of New Jersey; Thad McCotter, of Michigan; Mike Simpson, of Idaho; Pat Tiberi, of Ohio, and Melissa Hart, of Pennsylvania.

Despite the early campaigning from Messrs. Blunt and Boehner, however, some on Capitol Hill yesterday stressed a possible challenge from Republicans dissatisfied with those candidates as too close to the leadership and its scandals, and too soft on core Republican issues like spending cuts. A likely base of support for a principles-based candidate would be the Republican Study Committee, an unofficial conservatives’ caucus that lists more than 100 members of the House.

The chairman of that organization, Michael Pence, of Ohio; the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, John Shadegg, of Arizona, and the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis, of California – who received $10,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff-affiliated Indian tribes – emerged on Capitol Hill as the likeliest conservative contenders yesterday.

“The conservatives believe that the leadership they’ve had has been more interested in winning at all costs and more interested in preserving their majorities, and has thrown things like fiscal discipline over the side,” a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and congressional analyst, Norman Orenstein, told the Sun yesterday. “You’re going to have some sentiment that’s going to say we need to clean house.”

Requests for comment from the offices of Messrs. Pence and Lewis yesterday were not returned. In a statement, Mr. Shadegg said: “The issue is not who is the next majority leader, but where that leader takes us. We need dramatic and real reform. I will make my decision based on whether a candidate will deliver that change.”

Mr. Orenstein said yesterday that while a Pence, Shadegg, or Lewis candidacy on conservative principles was to be expected, it was unlikely that commitment to Republican ideology alone would determine Mr. DeLay’s successor. A key indicator, the scholar said, would be which candidate emerges as the first to issue a lengthy, public list of supporters, which he said could be anticipated in about a week.

The secret-ballot election to replace Mr. DeLay is expected to take place around January 31, the date set by Mr. Hastert in a statement Saturday following Mr. DeLay’s announcement.