GOP SHOULD CONSIDER FRESH FACES AT HELM

Election results as disappointing as those congressional Republicans suffered on Nov. 3 will always produce a reappraisal, and such followed immediately after this month's balloting. Events moved with astonishing swiftness, and by the first Friday post-election afternoon, House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced he wouldn't merely renounce the speakership, but quit Congress altogether. Before Gingrich had even made this announcement, his longtime friend and trusted lieutenant, Appropriations Committee chairman Bob Livingston of Louisiana, had announced his intention to run against the Georgian. Any who needed a reminder that politics is a rough game got it here.

As the race for speaker has continued, Livingston hasn't been reassuring on this or many other points. Livingston has played ruthless hardball from his Appropriations post, suggesting to wavering colleagues that even if he were to lose the speakership race, he would still retain the chairmanship of the key money committee, and members wouldn't want to have upset him in the process.

This and other tactics worked, with his two main challengers having folded almost before the race began. Confidantes report a Livingston temper that flares with some regularity. Further, it is doubtful whether the dour, near-mortician-like television presence Livingston displayed last weekend is the answer to a congressional GOP groping for a way to communicate its message. Either California's Chris Cox or Missouri's Jim Talent would have been better for the post. Both are highly articulate and solidly conservative. Either would have communicated better than Livingston, who touts himself as a "manager" who will "make the trains run on time."

That said, it appears the speakership is Livingston's. This makes it all the more important for the congressional GOP rank and file to install new talent in its other top leadership posts. As the races for majority leader, whip and conference chairman have unfolded, new faces have emerged. Among these are Jennifer Dunn of Washington and two former football stars from Oklahoma with proven ability to take the game to the opposition: Steve Largent and J.C Watts. Congressional Republicans would do well to put one or more of these attractive new faces near the top of their leadership team.