BY DAVID GOLDSTEIN AND JACKIE KOSZCZUK
 Herald Washington Bureau

 WASHINGTON -- High-profile hearings next week on the seizure of Elian Gonzalez could deliver the kind of political theater that some Capitol Hill Republicans have perfected over the years: Cabinet officials facing a withering barrage of questions, aggressive legal experts and hints of conspiracy at the highest levels.

 But as Senate GOP leaders prepare to raise the curtain Wednesday on hearings over the boy's seizure, some of their own followers are not applauding.

 ``You would have thought that we would have learned a lesson by now,'' said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo.

 Even Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who has little love for either President Clinton or Cuban President Fidel Castro, said that while the government may have used excessive force to get Elian out of his great-uncle's house, ``Why beat that horse with public hearings?''

 Hard-core conservatives repeatedly have pushed their anti-Clinton agenda to such extremes that the Republican Party is in danger of losing its grasp on the House of Representatives in November. In response, GOP pragmatists such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois are trying to chart a more centrist course, embracing issues such as education and health care in an effort to appeal to moderate swing voters.

 Now conservatives are outraged over the administration's seizure of Elian, renewing tensions within the party.

 But House and Senate GOP leaders seem intent on keeping the issue alive after last weekend's military-style raid took Elian from his Miami relatives and reunited him with his father.

 After senators questioned Attorney General Janet Reno in a closed-door session earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said hearings were necessary to explore the forceful federal seizure of the 6-year-old. Among the questions that should be asked, he said, is what role did Gregory Craig, the attorney for Elian's father who also defended Clinton during his impeachment, play in Reno's decision to launch the early-morning strike in Miami.

 ``It appeared that attorney Greg Craig was very much involved, and as perhaps he should be, but that he even had veto authority over the agreements or agreement that might be reached,'' Lott said.

 Republican Rep. Emerson called that line of inquiry ``ridiculous.''

 ``I really hope we don't have a three-ring circus on the Hill,'' she said. ``I don't think that serves anybody any good. The only thing we should be concerned with is Elian's life and how to get it back to normal. We ought to quit politicizing this thing. It gets us nowhere.''

 In the House, hard-core conservatives also are pushing for hearings, but Hastert is taking a more cautious approach. At his urging, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., began a ``preliminary'' review of the raid this week, but stopped short of calling for public testimony.

 That careful approach and restrained tone stands in sharp contrast to third-ranking House Republican Tom DeLay of Texas, who called the Immigration and Naturalization Service agents who took Elian ``jackbooted thugs.'' Others have referred to them as ``storm troopers.''

 With their party just five seats short of regaining control of the House, some Democrats are eager for the GOP to insist on conducting hearings that a majority of the public doesn't want.

 In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said that a full airing of the facts is necessary, but he is sensitive to limiting the scope of the hearings to ``just legal issues.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald