THAT OLD GANG OF MINE

By JEFFREY H. BIRNBAUM WASHINGTON

In the dreary days after the disastrous midterm elections, one topic made the often volcanic President Clinton erupt more than any other: his political consultants. "How could we have paid them so much and done so poorly?" he once shouted in the Oval Office. But now, just three months later, those fires have clearly cooled. Not only have most of the offenders been welcomed back, but they also have been placed at the heart of the White House's most important and difficult challenge: getting the President re-elected.

TIME has learned that three members of Clinton's Gang of Four-pollster Stan Greenberg and political illusionists James Carville and Paul Begala-have got the go-ahead for fat new contracts with the Democratic National Committee. They are working closely with White House honchos to alter the President's profile and devise what amounts to an 18-month game plan for the President's political resuscitation. Only Mandy Grunwald, the advertising expert, is being dropped from the team that helped put Clinton in the White House in 1992-but failed to save him from the Crash of '94. The revival has jolted some senior Democrats. As one put it, "I thought they were goners."

It also represents something of a palace coup. The Gang's return is the latest and by far the strongest indication that the star of Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes is eclipsing that of his nominal boss, Leon Panetta. One of Panetta's first acts last summer was to all but roust the consultants from the West Wing. He barred them from appearing on TV or in the Oval Office without his permission, and he conducted a none-too-private search for people to replace them. But Ickes had different ideas. In recent weeks he and his protege, newly appointed White House political director Doug Sosnik, reversed Panetta's decision. At a retreat in Virginia in early February, Ickes told a gathering of Democratic Senators up for re-election, "I have been tasked by the President to handle the political operation over the next two years." Ickes' colleagues at the White House and the Democratic National Committee say no one dares challenge him.

The new arrangement is already making a difference. The Gang and their White House allies are getting the Democratic National Committee to beef up its research department so that Clinton supporters can respond more rapidly to Republican initiatives. They also plan to create Democratic TV and talk-radio programs and increase computerized faxing of Clinton propaganda to Democratic leaders around the country in order to tightly coordinate the message that's mouthed. "We felt like we were getting beaten to the punch on issues," said a consultant who works regularly with the White House.

Still, the question remains, How could this rehabilitation have happened? Part of the answer lies with the falling fortunes of Panetta. Democrats say he has run afoul of the First Couple by grabbing too much press attention and bungling Henry Foster's nomination for Surgeon General. He has also been blamed for the White House's languid legislative performance of late-a serious infraction given his supposed congressional expertise. Partisans of Ickes and Panetta downplay the significance of the new contracts for the Gang and assert that other consultants will also be used-including Grunwald to some extent. They vehemently deny that Panetta has lost any of his authority. Also, contracts for the Gang will not be as rich as their old ones.

But the biggest surprise is that Greenberg was able to retain his job as Clinton's top pollster. The White House went so far as to interview possible replacements, but none were willing to disrupt their already lucrative private businesses to join what might be a short-term project-the Clinton presidency.

Media adviser Grunwald did not have the same safety net. In fact, she and Ickes are long-standing rivals from the trenches of New York politics. And rightly or wrongly, she has got more blame than the others for the colossal failure of health reform. At the end of that catastrophe, the White House turned to the media company of David Doak to produce some television commercials, and that relationship is expected to continue into the Clinton re-election campaign.

Weary Democrats are glad for any effort that might sharpen the President's fuzzy image. But with Clinton turning to his old war horses, complained one prominent Democrat, "the presidency has become rather insular." Indeed, responding quickly and clearly to Republican gibes might not be enough to solve Clinton's problems-or prevent future presidential eruptions.

--With reporting by James Carney with Clinton

With reporting by JAMES CARNEY WITH CLINTON