Beyond the events of Dec. 21, 1996, Republican operatives close to Mr. Gingrich conducted an ongoing campaign to disrupt the committee's work.

(The next day, when the Republican operative said he had been fibbing, he fell back to the confidence level his trade usually inspires.)

Days after the election, Republican operatives here continued to express bitterness and bewilderment at Tuesday's outcomes, insisting that the best men - the experienced ones - had not won.

He said that Republican operatives had wanted to reveal compromising photographs of his daughter, which would disrupt her wedding, and he wanted to spare her from embarrassment.

But a prominent Republican operative, Frank Luntz, said it matched the strategy his focus groups had dictated.

In the next he dismissively blames President Bush personally and Republican operatives generally for "saturation bombing" designed to "create a new personality that doesn't exist."

As a candidate, however, he ignited a distracting controversy with accusations that Republican operatives sought to besmirch his daughter Carolyn and disrupt her wedding.

That snickering you hear is from Republican operatives who know that these kinds of foul-ups, because they are based on criminal records, will disproportionately affect minority voters.

And Republican operatives who watched a botched balloon drop said that they are not sweating their own.

And about a dozen Republican operatives, meeting over dinner not long ago, agreed unanimously that Mr. Regan should pack his bags.

Several Republican operatives said that they were upset Sanford had known about this complaint for some time and failed to disclose it.

Kerry's perceived equivocation on the Iraq war damaged his 2004 campaign, according to both Democratic and Republican political operatives.

Meanwhile Republican operatives are trawling public records for ethical lapses among state Democrats.

Republican operatives agree that the presidential race has come down to turnout and say they are matching Democrats step by step.

Republican operatives, while crediting Democrats for the Louisiana victories, say those are not enough to undo the earlier results.

Republican operatives concede that the state's long-term demographics could spell trouble.

He added, "These allegations are a collection of hearsay gossip - largely from Republican political operatives who are trying to hurt President Clinton."

Republican operatives sent out frantic E-mails to navy ships asking them to dig up any ballots that might be hanging around.

Republican operatives linked to the reelection campaign of Governor Rick Perry helped to fund the signature drive for ballot access.