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And just in case he started to waffle, the Democrats had built in some safeguards. They insisted, for example, that Daschle and Gephardt sit in on the talks and tend to the party's soul. So Clinton decided to use Gephardt as his bad cop. ''You gotta speak up,'' Clinton told Gephardt during private Democratic strategy sessions. And Gephardt followed through. ''If you're going to talk about tax cuts," he told the Republicans at the table, "let's talk about tax cuts for people who need them.''
The Vice President too was a designated tough guy, to help give Clinton some cover. He heckled the enemy, repeatedly interrupting Gingrich during his presentation of Medicare options. At one point, Gingrich had to bite his lip when Gore cut in with the warning that "we can't frighten senior citizens. We must all guard against that." Gingrich, who had watched the Democrats spend millions of dollars last year attacking "Republican cuts" in Medicare, said nothing, having been counseled to stay calm at such moments. Gore remained feisty, however--so much so that rumors began circulating that he was throwing bones to the party faithful with an eye to a presidential race against Gephardt in the year 2000.
For his part, Gingrich did not exactly enjoy the full faith and confidence of his revolutionary guard, which is why majority leader Dick Armey was there to play the role of Gingrich's minder. For months Gingrich has used his hard-line freshmen as a foil in his negotiations. The White House has not always believed his hands were tied, but in recent days the tension between Gingrich and his troops was obvious. When the negotiators decided to tighten the circle, the White House wanted Armey gone. But Gingrich insisted he stay, saying that excluding the majority leader would be unacceptable to the House Republicans. They wanted him as an ideological check, as well as an alternative to the increasingly discredited Speaker.
Though the White House has portrayed Armey as the conservatives' attack dog, he was virtually (and uncharacteristically) silent in these negotiations, as he sat taking copious notes and, as McCurry put it, "kicking Gingrich under the table when necessary." Every so often, though, he had to excuse himself and slip out of the room. Three years ago, the First Lady declared that the entire White House would be a no-smoking zone as long as her husband was President. This means heavy smokers such as Armey had to slip out to the Rose Garden colonnade for a smoking break. If that were not indignity enough, Armey does not have a pass to roam around the West Wing. So whenever he ducked out of the meetings, he needed an escort to make sure the guards didn't shoot him on sight. At one point, Clinton's economic adviser, Gene Sperling, had Armey duty; another time a Secret Service agent warned the majority leader not to toss his cigarette butt into the Rose Garden. The dead leaves, the agent told him, might be a fire hazard.