Word: gingrichs
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...Gingrich knows that a lot of bad news in Washington flies on trial balloons. So he sensed that something serious might be starting last Monday when New York Representative Michael Forbes, a longtime Gingrich supporter, released himself into the atmosphere. Charging that Gingrich's effectiveness had been fatally undermined, Forbes became the first G.O.P. House member to call publicly for him to hand over his gavel. "He'll be a Speaker who's weighed down," Forbes said. He claimed that two dozen or so other House Republicans were thinking the same way. If just 20 Republicans held back their votes...
That became a distinct possibility last Tuesday, when the ethics committee announced that it would not begin the final phase of its investigation of Gingrich until Jan. 8, one day after the scheduled vote to re-elect the Speaker. Its schedule meant House members would have to decide on Gingrich without knowing what punishment the committee would recommend. Meanwhile, there was a prospect of more embarrassing disclosures later this month when Cole, the special investigator hired by the committee, will lay out his case...
With early but clear signs of a meltdown flashing around them, Gingrich and the rest of the House leadership, including majority leader Dick Armey and House whip Tom DeLay, went into the final phase of a furious attempt at damage control. Within a day of Forbes' announcement, Paxon and Armey had organized a giant conference call connecting more than 100 House Republicans. From his home in Marietta, Georgia, Gingrich connected by phone on Tuesday morning with Armey in Washington. "I need an honest appraisal," Gingrich told him. "How does it look...
...first time, Gingrich was contemplating the possibility of withdrawing. Armey, whom Gingrich relies on for the hard truth, told the Speaker he had better start phoning House Republicans to make his case. Gingrich started calling them one by one. "He's been so apologetic," says a source familiar with the calls. "He's been promising that this will never happen again...
...Even as Gingrich was dialing for votes, the letter came from Goss and Schiff, the G.O.P. members of the ethics subcommittee. For Republicans looking for a life preserver, it was just that. But the note, as well as press reports that the subcommittee had already decided on a reprimand for Gingrich, led investigator Cole to issue an angry statement reminding everyone that "the ethics rules do not permit public comment on the work of the committee until we are convened in an open session." All the same, Schiff insists he did nothing improper. "The letter may be unusual...