WASHINGTON -- At a moment when Newt Gingrich ordinarily might be making a meal of President Clinton's lawyers, delivering zingers about their performance in congressional impeachment hearings yesterday, the retiring House speaker was otherwise engaged.

His work: lighting the Capitol Christmas tree.

As the specter of impeachment looms on Capitol Hill, driven by the Republican machinery that Gingrich engineered, many have wondered: Where's Gingrich? Yesterday at the tree lighting, he smiled for cameras under spitting rain before dodging back behind closed doors. Since announcing his intention to resign, the speaker is visible only at such staged moments and rarely in the corridors of Congress.

Asked about the latest impeachment action yesterday, Gingrich seemed happily ignorant.

"I didn't pay any attention to it," he said with a broad smile. "I don't have a clue about what they're doing. I'm waiting for [Judiciary Committee Chairman] Henry Hyde to tell me."

Even then, he said he plans to stay out of the impeachment

process, casting a vote if the issue comes to the House floor but not presiding over the proceedings.

In the swirl of politics, he has become the Invisible Newt.

Some say the Georgia Republican has the right idea. He is filling out a term, a formality before Speaker-elect Bob Livingston of Louisiana officially takes over Jan. 6. His allies praise what they call Gingrich's dignified, quiet retreat from center stage, and say that by staying away, he will help the new leadership define itself and move on.

But to others, Gingrich's absence has brought a sense of chaos to Capitol Hill at a critical moment. Republicans wonder if Gingrich's shrewd political sense might have forced the GOP to take a harder look at how poorly this impeachment vote might play nationally.

Democrats, meanwhile, are complaining that no one is at the helm. Everything from the rules of an impeachment debate to the possibility of a bipartisan compromise is getting ignored, they say.

"We don't have strong leadership," said Rep. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat. "We're going to pay a heavy price for that. There's a responsibility of leaders to reach out and work together."

Gingrich's friends defend this decision to take a low profile.

"He is a real student of history, and he knew it was time to clear the way for the next person," said Debbie Dingell, a longtime friend of Gingrich and wife of Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell.

At a Christmas party in his Capitol Hill office yesterday, Gingrich chatted amiably with reporters about life after Washington. He said he will appear on Jay Leno next month and is considering writing a historical novel about Valley Forge.

Some say Gingrich's retreat from politicking, particularly in this divisive climate on Capitol Hill, is all about self-preservation.

"You don't want your political epitaph to read, 'Newt Gingrich, who presided over the impeachment of Bill Clinton,' " said retiring New York Republican Rep. Bill Paxon. "You want it to read, 'Newt Gingrich, who led the Republicans to the first majority in 40 years.' "

It is the end of a charismatic reign. One staffer who missed a recent Gingrich photo op said not getting a picture was "like a kick in the head."

Soon, the speaker's staff will pack up the dinosaurs in his office (an amateur paleontologist, Gingrich chose the prehistoric bones from the Smithsonian for his decor). Now, Livingston is mulling what distinctive museum pieces of his own to borrow.

Gingrich allies expect this change must sting.

"I'm sure this will be a bittersweet time for him," said Daniel Meyer, Gingrich's former chief of staff. "It was the most important legislative job in the country and he wasn't able to leave on his own terms. I guess he won't be happy about that."

True to form, Gingrich remains a force even now. Rich Galen, a Gingrich confidant who runs the political action committee Gingrich started, argues that had Gingrich been involved, the House would never be poised to impeach Clinton next week.

Said Galen: "Take Gingrich out of there and the handful of Democrats who would rather have voted against impeachment than hand Newt Gingrich a victory" now will vote for impeachment.

Gingrich is not clearing out of the capital altogether: He will keep his Washington apartment and has signed a deal with the Washington Speakers Bureau (reportedly for $50,000 per each engagement). And Gingrich already is being lobbied for corporate boards. The New Republic reported that the speaker dined with a billionaire financier for the luxury corporate-jet company Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. to discuss a board position the day after he announced his resignation.

Some say Gingrich will rise again, but the speaker's foes disagree. Former Democratic House Speaker Jim Wright, XTC dethroned in 1989 thanks largely to the determined efforts of a relentless Gingrich, calls this the end of the Gingrich era.

"He no longer had the support," said Wright. "But I don't want to gloat over his demise."

Pub Date: 12/09/98