On The Fast Track To Impeach

(2 of 3)

But that's the long game. For now, those close to Gingrich insist, he has no choice but to continue on the treacherous course that has been set. He is boxed in between two opposing forces: majority public opinion and the 100 or so most conservative members of his party in the House, the very lawmakers to whom he owes his speakership. "To the solid core of Republicans who have hated Clinton since Day One, to back off now would be heresy," says a top G.O.P. lobbyist. "It would also destroy Gingrich's political ambitions." And in a year when voter turnout is expected to be lower than ever, the party's chances for capturing 20 or more seats in the House, as well as three to five seats in the Senate and nearly as many statehouses, depend on the very group of voters who are most eager to see impeachment through. For Gingrich too there is a practical reason for waiting. Starr could still have damaging material that he has yet to release, so why take the chance of letting the President off the hook?

So Gingrich waits, partly because he wants to, but mostly because he has to, at least until after the election. That's when cutting a deal might start to make sense for him and even for the other side: Gingrich can stop worrying about galvanizing his base, and if he picks up a less-than-expected number of seats--say, only five or six--some in the party can argue it's a message to find a way out of the Lewinsky mess. As for the Democrats, if they lose big, they can go to Clinton with this appeal: "Here are the Democrats who died for you. It's time to sign on the dotted line."

Until then, Gingrich's lieutenants in Congress are moving to quiet the Democrats' cries of unfairness. Last week they reversed themselves to let the Democrats review documents Starr did not submit to Congress; they gave the Democrats subpoena power and, in hopes of calming everyone's nerves, pledged to press Starr for some indication of what he has left to deliver. Said Henry Hyde, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee: "I am doing everything but one-armed pushups to be fair, and I would do those if I could."

Even in this highly polarized environment, as the Republican House prepares to take on a Democratic President, there are some glimmers of detente. Four moderate members of the Judiciary Committee--Democrats William Delahunt and Howard Berman, and Republicans Asa Hutchinson and Lindsey Graham--are holding quiet meetings. From their talks may come the coalition that might devise a way out for everyone.

For now, the immediate question is, How many Democrats in the full House will vote to begin the inquiry? G.O.P. strategists concede that if counts by midweek do not demonstrate enough Democratic support to make a plausible show of bipartisanship, they may have to put time limits on the inquiry and limit its scope to the Lewinsky matter. Sources tell TIME that Hyde last week was also considering announcing that his hearings would be completed by Christmas.