THE CONGRESS

By James Carney

Perhaps reluctant to recognize that the problem might be him, NEWT GINGRICH is saying goodbye to his messenger. TOM BLANK, who became the Speaker's director of communications in February and was assigned the Sisyphean task of lifting Gingrich's approval ratings, will return to the private sector by August. G.O.P. leadership sources tell TIME the shake-up was engineered by JOE GAYLORD, an outside adviser to Gingrich whose power has been a constant source of friction on the Speaker's staff and in high G.O.P. circles. "Gaylord is the immovable object in Newt's life," says an aide to a top House Republican. "Tom never had a chance." In what he's telling associates is "the offer of a lifetime," Blank will become a senior executive at Union Pacific Resources Company in Fort Worth, Texas. No word on a replacement.

--By James Carney