DESCENT OF A WOMAN

"I'd say we had a parting of ways," English says, adding, "I'm real uncomfortable talking about it, because I don't want to badmouth Dennis at all. . . . That [signing a pledge] just isn't my style. There's nothing illegal, there's nothing unethical, but it is the good-old-boy style. And that just isn't my style." Her style, as English has to constantly remind herself, is not what's important. "I was elected to develop policy, and the policy is important. And I can't ever forget that," she says, her face still flushed by the suggestion that she might really believe that Life magazine story. "Unfortunately, that is not the mentality of most people in Washington. You get red-carpet treatment, and everybody starts their sentence out with 'I' or 'Me.' . . . And so it is very difficult to not get caught up in that. And that's one of the reasons why it's so important for me to come home all the time. It's just really important for me to keep touch with reality. And so hard to do it in the Washington arena. So hard to do it.