61.   The new House speaker, Newt Gingrich, Wednesday started his day gnashing his teeth and condemning the news media because of a television interview with his mother.

62.   The new speaker has set a higher goal than simple damage control, however.

63.   The new speaker, Rep. Steve Gaw of Moberly, is regarded as a reformer.

64.   The Parliament must elect a new speaker and acting president.

65.   The new speaker acknowledged that Democrats had won the majority by just a few thousand votes in a handful of districts.

66.   The question is whether the new speaker will let Republicans vote their consciences or follow the demands of Tom DeLay, the party whip.

67.   Vic Fazio of Sacramento becomes one of the top three members of the House majority under the new speaker.

68.   When that became public, Murdoch denied any attempt to bag the new speaker, and the contract was rewritten at drastically lower numbers.

69.   With iron discipline and the fervor of a Saint-Just, the new speaker of the House of Representatives came to look like a prime minister.

70.   You can expect the Republicans to control both chambers of the Legislature after November and elect a new GOP House speaker to replace Democrat Pete Laney.