The Trouble With Newt

IN JOURNALS OF OPINION, covering Newt Gingrich has become a kind of death watch. Last month a widely read cover story in The New Republic was titled "The Madness of King Newt." Then the conservative Weekly Standard--once pro-Newt--wondered whether Gingrich was in "meltdown." The lead article--by a fellow GOP congressman, Peter King--called the speaker "political road kill." Gingrich's trip to China was intended to position the speaker as a statesman--but he was attacked by conservatives when his initial itinerary omitted a stop in Taiwan, the right's favorite bastion of anti-communism in the Far East.

Gingrich is not mad, but he is angry. He doesn't understand why he was vilified by his own colleagues on the right for suggesting that the GOP forgo a tax cut until the budget is balanced. He was just trying to remove the implication that Republicans want to cut Medicare to pay for tax breaks for the rich. Gingrich's most delicate struggle may be at home, say his friends--with his wife, Marianne. In January Gingrich agreed to pay a $300,000 fine for misleading the House ethics committee. But Marianne, who handles the family finances, does not want to pay the penalty out of her husband's own pocket. She would prefer to use Gingrich's campaign contributions, an option that is legal but probably politically disastrous. "It's a huge problem," a friend told NEWSWEEK. "Marianne has said to Newt, 'Do not bankrupt us over a political matter.' Actually, I believe she has put it more threateningly than that." (Gingrich's office declined to comment.) Gingrich is not rich, despite substantial royalties from his book, "To Renew America." Friends say that paying the fine would "bring him to about zero." Gingrich's staff and advisers are leaning toward paying at least a portion of the $300,000 from a special defense fund set up with strict limits on donations.

The speaker has been meeting with his fellow Republicans one by one to discuss what to do. Some nervously warn him not to set a precedent that would make congressmen personally liable for ethics-committee fines. "Tough luck," says Chris Shays of Connecticut, who probably represents the majority view. "Newt will be our leader if he pays the fine. Otherwise, in my opinion, he will be forced out." To his advisers, Gingrich is bombastically insisting that he must stay on because there is no one else to lead the House. Majority Leader Dick Armey, a bumptious figure in the past, is trying to become more telegenic, but most of his peers say that he has a long way to go. A compromise choice might be Rep. Bill Paxon of New York, a congenial boy-next-door. But Paxon can't very well wield the knife against Gingrich--he's Newt's staunchest defender.

Privately, Gingrich's moods are said to vary from morose lows to manic highs. Lately he has been on an upswing. His colleagues once saw his moodiness as a mark of genius. Now they see it as caricature.