A Delicate Dance for Two Lobbyists Skirmishing Over Health Legislation.

One is a smooth-talking former congressman from Louisiana -- ''the Swamp Fox,'' constituents called him -- who relishes his image as a rascal, a charmer and a Cajun raconteur. The other is a fireman's daughter from working-class Rhode Island, strait-laced and studious, who mastered the arcane world of health policy as an analyst for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. As perhaps the two most powerful health industry lobbyists in Washington, the two of them, Billy Tauzin and Karen Ignagni, are the odd couple of the capital's health care debate. Their paths are as opposite as their personalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]