Stop the Fight!

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WASHINGTON: Bill Clinton was like a panicky mother on the first day of school. He didn't have the votes; the bullies in the House were going to beat up his precious trade measure. So before any blood could be spilled, "fast track" was back in the White House drinking cocoa and the President was marching back up the Hill to twist some arms.

Gingrich spokeswoman Christina Martin delivered the somber news: "At the request of the White House, the fast-track vote has been postponed until sometime over the weekend." Friday and possibly Saturday will find Clinton back on the free-trade wagon, ringing his bell and passing out pork to any congressman willing to see the light.

Bill Gates has even pitched in with a full-page ad in Friday's Washington Post that calls fast-track authority "a vote to affirm the essential strength and vitality of the American economy."

The President insists he's close. And there are a handful of holdout Republicans ready to get aboard — if Clinton will scratch their backs on some overseas abortion issues.

But it's the pro-labor, anti-NAFTA Democrats that refuse to crack, a defiant group that could sink the measure — and that, come 2000, could make the Republican Party look positively united by comparison.