Caught In The Town's Most Thankless Job

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McCurry's frustrations have at times spilled over into the briefing room. One week into the scandal, he told reporters, "I think you all know the constraint that I'm laboring under here, and I don't want to belabor the pain and anguish I feel." Two weeks ago the spokesman himself became the story, when he suggested to a Chicago Tribune reporter that Clinton's ultimate explanation of his relationship with Lewinsky was not likely to be simple or innocent. (McCurry later explained his comments as "a lapse in my sanity.") Even McCurry's famous jokes are a bit off key these days. Last week, after addressing an assembly of Governors' press secretaries, McCurry told them he'd like to do it again at their next meeting. "Of course, I might not be here next year," he quipped. "But then again, Clinton might not be here either."

From the time he joined the White House three years ago, at a low point in relations between Clinton and the media, McCurry made it clear that he did not want scandal to be part of his portfolio. Through Whitewater and Donorgate, McCurry was able to shovel those questions to the counsel's office. But even while savvy, media-wise lawyers such as Mark Fabiani and his replacement Lanny Davis took the calls from investigative reporters, McCurry had to wage a vigorous internal campaign for openness. "What Mike McCurry has stood for is that if you give reporters all the facts up front, even before they ask for them, you stand a better chance of getting your viewpoint expressed and you'll have the story written accurately and completely," says Davis, who left the White House earlier this year.