CRIME BILL . . . CHIEF ON THE HILL

Clinton's top gun Leon Panetta spent the day trying to assemble the votes needed on Capitol Hill to pass a crime bill. Meanwhile, Clinton worked the phones, trying to get lawmakers to reverse last Thursday's embarrassing rejection of the legislation. TIME Washington correspondent Julie Johnson says that despite the daylong effort, the President does not have the numbers to pass the bill. A vote will occur either Friday or Saturday. Clinton's strategy, says Johnson, is to concentrate his lobbying firepower on the Democrats and not count on any Republicans to jump on his bandwagon.