NO PUSHOVER

Hours before the Oklahoma City bombing dwarfed partisan politics, President Clinton launched an attack on the GOP, insisting he would not be "blackmailed" by House Speaker Newt Gingrich's threat to attach GOP bills to budgetary measures that Clinton would have difficulty vetoing. "A strategy to sort of put me in a box would be an error because I will still exercise the power of the presidency in the interest of the American people," Clinton said at an Oval Office photo-op, reprising his Wednesday press conference theme that the president is "relevant." If Gingrich tied controversial "Contract With America" bills to legislation to raise the national debt ceiling, for instance, a Clinton veto would send the government skidding to a halt.