THE THURSDAY REGULARS

AT 11 A.M. LAST THURSDAY, CONGRESSMAN John Boehner took his seat at the head of a conference-room table a few steps from the Rotunda, beneath the Capitol dome. As the fourth-ranking Republican in the House and a field general in the war to pass the "Contract with America," Boehner (pronounced Bay-ner) looked at home. But his lieutenants, who were arrayed around the table strewn with coffee cups and cigarette butts, were not so natural a fit. They were not fellow lawmakers or even congressional staff members. They were lobbyists representing some of the richest special interests in the country. Still, he treated them with the business-as-usual deference of a colleague. "O.K., let's get going," he began with relaxed familiarity, and then listened to their reports from the legislative front.

Welcome to the underside of the Republican revolution. To an extent unusual even for parasitic Washington, the House G.O.P. leadership has attached its fortunes to private lobbyists, and is relying on their far-flung influence to pass its agenda. Boehner's Thursday Group is the top of the pyramid of that sophisticated effort, serving as command central for a series of multimillion-dollar campaigns on behalf of the Contract with America. The stakes of the enterprise-and the potential rewards for the lobbyists-are huge. "If we don't do the contract, we don't have to worry about doing other kinds of bills," Boehner says ominously. As for the lobbyists on his "team," he adds, "We know who's doing the work." And that clearly will make a difference.

The work in this case is being done by an eclectic group of interests that represent, in effect, the new Republican alite. They are a seemingly combustible mixture of traditional business groups-heavily weighted toward small businesses-and decidedly populist organizations. Although the two sides disagree about many things, they share an antipathy toward government and a belief that Republicans should remain in power. And so far that has been enough to keep them together. The business groups around Boehner's table are the National Federation of Independent Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Restaurant Association and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. They are joined by such "movement"--or ideological--conservatives as the Christian Coalition, the Citizens for a Sound Economy and the Americans for Tax Reform. "We're learning to love each other," says John Motley of the N.F.I.B., the chief small-business lobby.

Not all Republicans think the alliance is a good idea. Some are worried that in its zeal to pass the contract, the leadership might be snuggling too close to the special interests that the all-important swing voters abhor. If the contract's tax cuts overtly favor corporations and the wealthy, says G.O.P. Representative Steve Schiff of New Mexico, "it will make us a sitting duck for those who argue that our party has capitulated to our [lobbying] allies." Democrats are already making the argument. "The Republicans are too close to business interests," charges Charles Schumer of New York. "That is their Achilles' heel."