Reno Still Fishin'

WASHINGTON: Janet Reno is leaving her net in vice-presidential waters at least for another 60 days. Republicans are crowing; pundits are buzzing. Al himself has stayed mum, protesting, not too much but rather not at all. TIME Washington correspondent Jef McAllister says that's because there's really nothing to say. "Everyone expected this. Reno needed more time. Her team just went through a shakeup; she's hired new people."

That still doesn't mean there's a case. "The law itself is murky," McAllister says. Gore made the calls, and some of the money did indeed go into hard-money accounts instead of soft. But from a legal standpoint, there's still no strong evidence that Gore knew where the money was headed or that the calls themselves might be illegal. "Unless something new comes up, I don't see much likelihood that this will lead to an independent counsel," he says. "No prosecutor would try a case as thin as this. The only reason is that she's a Clinton appointee. She might turn it over just to be above suspicion." Which could conceivably wind up vindicating Gore in the long run. But for a White House whose scandals seem to last forever, no long run could possibly be short enough.