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For the first time in weeks, the White House began picking up the scent of a possible defeat. Despite the embarrassing missteps of chairman Hyde--who reversed his widely panned decision to broaden the impeachment inquiry into campaign-finance abuses just two days after he got started--the week ended with the Clinton camp showing signs of desperation. In what might be an attempt to push the vote into next year--when five more Democrats enter the House--Clinton's lawyers demanded that they be given three extra days this week to call witnesses and argue the President's case in front of Hyde's committee. At the White House, optimism that the President will escape has almost disappeared. "I kept waiting for a moment when heroes would rise to the occasion, because it's such a unique moment in our history," says Leon Panetta, the former Clinton chief of staff who has been lobbying Democrats and Republicans to pass a bipartisan censure resolution. "That just has not happened, and I'm beginning to lose hope that it will."
There is one group holding out hope for a way out of impeachment: the mostly moderate Republicans led by New York's King. The dwindling band has drafted a resolution of censure that would require the President to pay a fine and publicly admit wrongdoing. They not only believe Clinton's alleged crimes do not merit impeachment; they also argue to their colleagues that if the House impeaches such a popular President, the Republicans might never recover politically.
But that argument doesn't count for much with the guy who counts at the moment, a politician who has thrived despite taking career-killing risks. In 1989 DeLay managed the campaign of Edward Madigan for the job of House Republican whip against an upstart rival named Newt Gingrich. Gingrich won by just two votes. Five years later, after the Republicans took over Congress, DeLay brazenly challenged and easily defeated Gingrich's handpicked candidate and best friend, Bob Walker, for the position he now holds. DeLay defended the Speaker during Gingrich's ethics investigation and helped him narrowly win re-election to his post in January 1997. But just six months later, DeLay tried to overthrow Gingrich in a coup attempt that, when it failed, seemed sure to end the Texan's stint in the leadership.
Instead Delay's frank admission of his role in the effort--delivered before the entire House Republican membership--earned him praise from fellow conservatives and moderates alike. DeLay's honesty was especially compelling when compared to the denials offered by other conspirators. "Whether you were on his side or not, you had to respect his courage," says Florida's Foley. "It was meant to be public humiliation, but he took it like a man, and his stature grew every day thereafter."
It helped that DeLay was considered one of the best vote counters Congress had ever seen. Being an effective whip means knowing intuitively in which direction every member is leaning on every critical vote--and what it will take to get their support. Sometimes courtliness is called for, other times thinly veiled threats. "I hope that I am seen more by my members as a whip who grows the vote rather than forces it," says DeLay. "I spend a lot of time talking to members and trying to take care of their problems." But DeLay adds, "Politics is about rewards and punishments, about consequences and cause and effect."