Over the years, he has shrugged off ethics accusations.

White House officials said they believed that Mr. Perot was benefiting from the ethics accusations involving the Democratic Party.

Gingrich himself ultimately fell victim to the Thermidorian reaction of 1999, when his own colleagues turned on him after ethics accusations and then a poor showing in the 1998 election.

Mr. Gingrich has won 10 elections to Congress, many of them by narrow margins in races where ethics accusations against him played a significant role.

But he is not entitled to blame his fall on what he called the "mindless cannibalism" of ethics accusations.

Mr. DeLay has blamed Democrats and the "liberal media" for stirring up old - and, he says, discredited - ethics accusations against him.

In 1993, he came back to challenge Holtzman in the primary, following ethics accusations against Holtzman.

"People are shocked that I answer the phone and take the time to answer their questions," he said, adding that some questions had been about the ethics accusations.

A14 A top F.B.I. aide was dismissed over ethics accusations.

Ferraro, upset over Holtzman's ethics accusation from the 1992 Senate primary, encouraged Hevesi to oppose Holtzman.