Absence of A Quorum

"THE FRESHMAN-CLASS REVOLT," CALIFORNIA REPUBlican aspirant Tom Huening called it in September, when he invited prospective new members of the House of Representatives to a post-election conclave in Omaha, Nebraska, to plot the overthrow of the seniority system. Although 170 candidates accepted the invitation, only 14 Republicans (out of a freshman class of 110) showed up last Monday in Omaha, where they endorsed term limits and other G.O.P. reform proposals. Huening, who lost his race by a wide margin, went to Omaha anyway to lend moral support. But House Speaker Tom Foley had deftly defused the incipient uprising by flying to...