GINGRICH . . . NEWT'S POTBOILER BOILS OVER

Incoming GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrichhappens to be co-writing a World War II novel that includes a steamy encounter between a White House chief of staff and a "pouting sex kitten," and an unpublished draft happens to refer to a "Lt. George Bush" as "goofy." When word leaked out yesterday, Gingrich said he neither "wrote, saw, nor approved" the references to former President George Bush (the book's publisher says he inserted it as a suggestion that hadn't yet made its way to Gingrich). The book, "1945," is scheduled for publication next August and excerpts will be published Sunday in The New York Times Magazine.