The party was left scrambling for leadership after the sudden departure of the fiery Newt Gingrich and the dramatic revelation of marital infidelity and subsequent resignation by speaker-elect Bob Livingston. Party sources said chaos reigned among Republican Representatives following Mr Livingston's announcement, just as they were poised to vote on articles of impeachment against President Clinton.

Republican House leader Richard Armey of Texas reportedly told fellow party members: "We got to stop killing each other."

Majority Whip Rep Tom DeLay of Texas quickly turned to his deputy, Rep J. Dennis Hastert, and helped rally support for the mild-mannered man from Illinois.

'The Coach'

J. Dennis Hastert will try to heal divisions within his party

Mr Delay is a tireless advocate for Mr Clinton's impeachment which has won him the nickname "The Hammer," but Mr Hastert is known as "The Coach."

It's not just a reference to his 16-year career as a high school history teacher and wrestling coach. It also refers to how he can rally his fellow Republicans to consensus.

Those bridge-building skills will be crucial as the Republicans try to forward their agenda with a razor-thin 12-vote majority in the new Congress, but the divide is not simply between Democrats and Republicans. The Republican Party is also suffering from internal divisions between conservatives and moderates.

"Who in the House is in the best position to heal the partisan rift? It's Coach Hastert," said Rep. Gerald Weller, R-Ill.

In a scandal-distracted House left deeply divided by the impeachment debate, Mr Hastert will need to use those coalition-building skills to forward his agenda of tax cuts, the war on drugs and Social Security reform when the new Congress convenes on 6 January.

For House Republicans exhausted from the contentious impeachment debate and internal divisions that appeared after the last election, Mr Hastert was a well-known, comfortable face.

A common man, an uncommon politician

Mr Hastert may be well known among his Republican colleagues, but he has not been a high-profile politician.

"They do call me 'the Coach' on the Hill and I guess one of my roles is to put other people out there in the limelight, to get to be the star, and I think that's what we'll be able to do in this Congress," Mr Hastert told the Associated Press on Sunday.

He lives in the rural town of Yorkville, Illinois, 40 miles southwest of Chicago, and his friends say that Washington hasn't changed him.