ABSTRACT
Right-wing adherents were euphoric when Representative Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) stormed into Washington in 1994 to claim his throne as speaker of the house. Many in the religious right-which played a crucial role in the GOP takeover-thought that Gingrich's Republican revolution meant that they would have free rein to pass ultraconservative laws. What they did not count on was that Bill
Clinton would badly outfox Gingrich, leading the speaker to close down the government in 1995. A reinvigorated Clinton and his congressional allies worked together to help stymie the more nutty GOP proposals that appealed to Christian conservatives, such as shutting down the Department of Education.
