Can This Elephant Be Cleaned Up?

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House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois is pushing for an aggressive, if belated, overhaul of travel and lobbying rules--perhaps so far-reaching that it could be challenged in court as an abridgment of free speech, according to House G.O.P. strategists. In what may be the clearest sign that Republicans are feeling their political mortality, Hastert aides revealed at week's end that the Speaker is pushing Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio to resign from his post as chairman of the Committee on House Administration, which dispenses everything from sofas to BlackBerrys and will handle part of the lobbying-reform package. Ney, identified as "Representative A" in Abramoff's indictment, is accused of exchanging "official acts" for gifts and contributions from the lobbyist (see box), and Republican leaders said they would not be surprised if he was indicted.

Boehner is challenging Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, a maestro of the K Street lobbying community who holds the No. 3 spot in the House, majority whip. Blunt, the son of a state legislator and father of the Show-Me State's Governor, Matt Blunt, has been acting in the No. 2 job since DeLay temporarily left the post after his indictment in September in a Texas political money-laundering case. If Blunt is chosen to stay on, Republicans will pick a new whip on Feb. 2 as well. Blunt said over the weekend that he had commitments from more than the 117 House members needed to win. Counts in leadership races are notoriously squishy, though, because the ballot is secret and many of the promises are made over the phone.

The battle between Boehner and Blunt got ugly quickly. Blunt allies called Boehner a "joy boy" more concerned about partying than about the party. Boehner allies distributed a Rube Goldberg-like diagram, intentionally drawn to resemble opponents' depiction of Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed health-care plan, headlined REP. ROY BLUNT'S EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF JACK ABRAMOFF AND HIS INDIAN GAMING CLIENTS.

As backers of the two bickered, a variety of key Republicans began to fret that outraged voters would punish the party if it simply reshuffled a few chairs after being confronted by federal prosecutors with evidence of excess that is adding up to a historic scandal. "A bad political environment could turn into something tsunami size," said a Republican official close to the White House. That worry inspired the entry late last week of a dark-horse candidate for DeLay's job, John Shadegg of Arizona, who stuffed envelopes when his father managed Barry Goldwater's 1952 Senate campaign. "We need a clean break from the scandals of the past," Shadegg said in his announcement. Within hours, he was endorsed by such key conservative voices as the organization Club for Growth and the publications Human Events and National Review.