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Among the public, only conservative Republicans seemed to want Clinton impeached, and though the G.O.P. continued to play to them with an eye to mobilizing turnout in the midterm elections, Democrats scoured the horizon for signs of a backlash against the G.O.P. Even in some Republican districts, constituent calls to congressional offices demanding Clinton's resignation or impeachment fell sharply. Gone was talk that leading Senate Democrats would soon be calling for his resignation. In the House more Democrats were willing to follow the White House strategy of blaming Republicans for rubbing America's nose in the mess. Even Representative Jim Moran of Virginia, who two weeks ago said Clinton "doesn't have the moral authority to lead a great nation," was softened by a call from Hillary, and toed the party line. The people, he told TIME, are "so sickened by it all that they are starting to focus on the messenger who brought it to them."
And Democrats hope people will also focus on Starr's de facto messenger in Congress, House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Attacking Gingrich is a standard Democratic ploy, but in the Lewinsky affair it had been hard to do as long as Gingrich stayed behind the curtain, venturing forth only to make high-minded statements about the need for civility at a moment of this historic magnitude. But on Wednesday he went before the microphones--without Judiciary committee chairman Henry Hyde--and trampled all over the idea of a censure deal that would pre-empt impeachment proceedings. He also ruminated in a closed-door meeting about expanding the hearings to include Clinton's campaign-finance abuses, the Administration's transfer of satellite technology to China, and the many other scandals known as Whitewater. It sure looked as though Newt was in charge and ready to launch an open-ended inquiry into all Clintonian abuse-of-power issues that would amount, as one Clinton aide put it, to "the scandal analog of the 1995 shutdown." For now, Democrats were happy just to label Newt the man pulling Hyde's strings. "The leadership calls the shots," said Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Judiciary committee. "The agenda is coming from above Henry Hyde."