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In making "The Fall of Newt Gingrich" (7 tonight, KCPT, Channel 19), documentary producer Michael Pack trailed the then-speaker of the House during a crucial two-month period in the fall of 1998. It begins with optimism, as Gingrich hopes to turn public disgust over President Clinton's indiscretions into midterm victory. It ends with Gingrich out of a job and his fellow Republicans wondering what went wrong. Despite gaining extraordinary access to its subject, Pack's film doesn't really answer that question. Perhaps we'll never know why the person most responsible for the GOP's success in the Clinton era was turned out so swiftly by his own troops. "The Fall of Newt Gingrich" is a lively document anyway, as it gives us some insight into Gingrich's drive and aggressiveness, the two qualities that propelled his remarkable political career. His schedule would've felled lesser men; each day is crammed with closed-door meetings, public meet-and-greets, media spin and campaign appearances. But Gingrich is better spoken on the subject of dinosaur bones than on his own strengths and weaknesses. So Pack pads the film with reflections from Gingrich's staff and close friends. One of them, Sen. Trent Lott, says, "He wasn't our Moses, he was our Joshua. He not only led us to the promised land, he took us in." @ART CAPTION:Gingrich @ART:Photo (color) >>>