Impeachment Vote

Inside a small, elegant office a short drive south from Capitol Hill the employees are working overtime. They monitor CNN, C-SPAN and NPR. They tap into the Internet, tracing each twist and turn of the White House scandal. They pore over newspapers and Newsweek.In other words, these 30-and-40-year-olds spend their days much like the Hill staffers whose jobs it is to frantically follow the impeachment trial.Their nights, however, are another story.Then, they don costumes -- a black beret, say, or a Paula Jones-style plastic nose (before the surgery)

By the time the first air raid sirens sounded in the Baghdad night at 4: 17 p.m. (EST) yesterday, it had already been such a dizzying day of newsbreaks that you were left almost dumbfounded in front of your television set.But within 15 minutes came another stunning bulletin -- this time from Capitol Hill -- that the majority leader of the Senate, Trent Lott, did not back the military action taking place.Then, before the White House and Congressional correspondents could even start to digest that extraordinary statement, it was back to Baghdad and CNN's Christiane Amanpour as anti-aircraft guns started to boom.

WASHINGTON -- The most serious problem confronting the '' federal government these days is unquestionably the need to reform and protect the Social Security system. Although not an issue with the emotional content of civil rights or the War in Vietnam, it is the most significant facing this generation of American politicians.But a reform can be accomplished only through a delicate negotiation between President Clinton and the Republican leaders of Congress. And the opening of the investigation that could lead to Mr. Clinton's impeachment wipes away any chance of such a negotiation in the foreseeable future.

For the three old friends, beer and gossip at Nick's Raw Bar in the middle of the bustling Cross Street Market is a Saturday afternoon tradition.Marie Bracey, Geneva Jones and Rosalind Anthony perch atop wooden stools and watch shoppers hurry past, arms filled with poinsettias and Christmas cookies. Directly behind the three women is a giant television, tuned to an infomercial for an aerobics video.Is there something strange about this picture?No, not the television picture of the aerobics video (though the $68.35 price does seem a tad high)

WASHINGTON -- In a campaign-style effort to regain their political footing after last week's impeachment vote, President Clinton and congressional Democrats challenged Republicans yesterday to enact broad education initiatives in the new budget."

WASHINGTON -- The chief United Nations weapons inspector reported yesterday that Iraq had failed to cooperate fully with U.N. disarmament efforts, presenting President Clinton with a national security headache as he labors to head off his own impeachment.The White House has been waiting for the report by Richard Butler before deciding whether to carry out repeated threats to punish Iraq militarily.But the impending House impeachment vote this week made it unlikely that the president could give his full attention to a new Iraq crisis.

WASHINGTON -- Once, to stave off an earlier bimbo eruption, she looked into the TV camera and said, "I'm not just a little Tammy Wynette standin' by my man."Now, despite ultimate humiliation, she's not only standing by her man, but Hillary Clinton's also standing by her party.In mysterious ways, unfathomable as her marriage, the scandal has energized the first lady into a radiant, aggressive political force.Campaigning coast-to-coast, Ms. Clinton draws crowds and cash in a one-woman frenzy to save Democrats from defeat in the midterm elections.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Constance A. Morella's autumn of indecision ended late last night as the moderate Montgomery County Republican declared she would vote against impeaching a popular Democratic president whose policies she has often supported."

WASHINGTON -- Between the House vote to impeach President Clinton and the final outcome in the Senate, the president will retain, unimpaired, the full powers of office. But that interval is sure to be politically troubled and may seem constitutionally awkward.Any loss of authority, legal scholars and political analysts appear to agree, will be a political consequence, though not a constitutional reality.Just as some Republicans questioned Clinton's motives for the military strike against Iraq on the eve of impeachment vote by the House of Representatives, some would almost certainly question the legitimacy of any significant domestic actions by the president.

ABC News has done such a "horrendous" job of covering major events in Washington and Baghdad this week that the network apologized to its affiliates, according to a message sent to news directors at stations affiliated with ABC.Chuck Samuels, news director at WOKR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Rochester, N.Y., contacted his colleagues at other ABC stations in the northeast late Thursday after talking with network news officials in his capacity as a member of...