Democrats, of course, are on the attack, but Republicans have a trickier play: How to support Starr as an enemy of Bill without attaching your name to the investigator's ghastly approval ratings? Arlen Specter hedged with the 'if true' approach: "Unless there is an open and shut case, the kind which would result in a resignation, as happened with President Nixon, I do not think there ought be an impeachment proceeding."
Republicans still want the deed to the high ground if Joe Friday winds up nailing his man. But until Starr can walk up the Hill this summer with an air-tight case, encouraging words from the GOP will be few and far between.