J. Dennis Hastert is the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, which makes him a key guy in advancing Dubya's legislative agenda.

The NYT profiles him. Here's an excerpt:

J. Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, is accustomed to legislative requests from President Bush. But as he was escorting Mr. Hastert to the Oval Office one day last month to discuss the pending intelligence bill, Mr. Bush, aware that Mr. Hastert was thinking of retiring in 2006, asked a more personal favor.

"I hope you're going to run again," the president said, according to Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff. "We need you."

For Mr. Hastert, who turned 63 on Sunday, the president's gentle suggestion was tantamount to an order. It reflected a changing dynamic on Capitol Hill, where Mr. Hastert - a former high school wrestling and football coach who has often been characterized as an affable sidekick to Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader - has emerged as a powerful force, the man Mr. Bush is counting on to enact his ambitious second-term agenda, including Social Security legislation and changes in the tax code.

It will not be an easy task. With Congress returning on Tuesday, Democrats are promising a fight over Social Security, and some Republicans, fearful that upending such a popular program will hurt them at the polls, are grousing. Cantankerous conservatives nearly killed the measure overhauling the nation's intelligence agencies, and a bill providing prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries before that. It will be up to Mr. Hastert to corral his fractious caucus - quickly, because both sides know Mr. Bush's sway over Congress will erode as the 2006 midterm elections draw near.

"The moment won't last all that long," said Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the Republican whip. "If we get any of this done, it will be a great accomplishment."

If history is any guide, Mr. Hastert will do what he must. That might mean twisting the arms of recalcitrant Republicans, as he did during the Medicare vote, or manipulating House rules to shut out Democrats, or refusing to consider legislation that lacks broad Republican support - "a majority of the majority," in Mr. Hastert's words - as he did with the intelligence bill.

The speaker makes no apologies. "My goal," he said in a recent interview, "is to work across the aisle as much as I can." But he added: "I have to bring my caucus together, too. And if I'm forced to do everything just with Republican votes, which sometimes we end up doing, then I have to make sure that all of our people are on board."