NEWT'S POWER DIET

By JAMES CARNEY AND KAREN TUMULTY

When House Republicans convene this week to elect their leaders, Newt Gingrich's will be the only name put in nomination for Speaker. But such a show of confidence would have been much sweeter had Gingrich not spent last week beating back a minirevolt among former loyalists.

Trouble began when Oklahoma's Steve Largent, a pro-football Hall of Famer and star of the 1994 freshman class, suggested on television that the Speaker step aside until he could resolve the current ethics investigation of him. Soon other members of Congress were joining in, as were some influential conservative thinkers, including Paul Weyrich, the television talk show host.

Gingrich, in a hurried round of phone calls, managed to silence most of his detractors. And even though he won't give up the job of Speaker, he will relinquish some of his power in order to quiet grumbling in the ranks. Having centralized authority to the point where he was regarded as the strongest Speaker in eight decades, Gingrich is now moving to return more policy-setting freedom to committee chairmen and has promised to consult more closely with members before taking controversial stands, as he did on Bosnia and the Mexican bailout.

What kind of figure will Gingrich, the reformed revolutionary, cut in Washington next year? As the Speaker promised President Clinton during a White House meeting last week, "We'll be a couple steps behind you all the way."

--Reported by James Carney and Karen Tumulty