Nothing would please the press more than proving that House Republican whip Tom DeLay is single-handedly running Congress behind the scenes. (Well, maybe finding that George W. Bush had done cocaine, but you get the point.) So when the staff of J. C. Watts, the chairman of the House GOP conference, leaked that DeLay was trying to take over Watts's operation, the press jumped. Supposedly, DeLay had handed out three pages of talking points and a checklist of political tasks (town hall meetings, talk radio, etc.) for members -- all without notifying Watts, whose job it is to do that, or (gasp) without issuing the document on Watts's stationery.
In truth, Watts and Pete Hoekstra of Michigan had visited DeLay earlier and asked for his help in cajoling members into communicating the GOP message. DeLay did just that, thinking he'd cleared everything with a Watts aide. But when Watts found out, he was embarrassed, complained to speaker Denny Hastert, and threatened to resign. Of course, he didn't quit. As for DeLay, no good deed goes unpunished. "The last thing DeLay wants is to take over Watts's operation," said a GOP official.