THE START OF THE DEAL

A PAULA JONES V. CLINTON TRIAL WOULD BE A DIVE INTO A SEWER, SO IT MAY NOT HAPPEN. THE OUTLINES OF A DEAL ARE EMERGING FROM TESTY EXCHANGES

A trial in the case of Jones v. Clinton threatens to be the most sordid spectacle imaginable. It could well involve testimony about Bill Clinton's genital area, with results made public. Plus, if lawyers on both sides produce even part of the dirt they have been digging for, it could include salacious allegations about the past sex lives of both the President and his accuser, Paula Corbin Jones. Whatever might be proved or disproved, both could come out with reputations so blackened as to make the question of who "won" irrelevant.

Which may well mean there will never be a trial--even...

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