Clinton Can’t Duck This One

WASHINGTON: No President has ever hit the canvas and bounced up again more often than Bill Clinton. But even if a missile strike on Iraq pushes back the House impeachment vote a few days, "I think it’s over," says TIME congressional correspondent James Carney. "I don’t think there’s anything he can do to change the dynamic now." After GOP moderates Sherwood Boehlert, Jim Leach, Bob Ney and Brian Bilbray all announced they were toeing their party's line Wednesday, it was time for the White House to stop waiting for a miracle and start getting ready for a Senate trial.

Bob Dole’s gift for backseat statesmanship aside, the Senate isn’t too keen on ducking its constitutional duty in favor of some tangled joint-resolution-and-a-fine scenario. It’s getting ready to go to trial. "We do no service to the country to operate in denial," Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., a supporter of Dole’s proposal, told the New York Times. “It is now very likely a trial is going to be held in the United States Senate for the removal of Bill Clinton.” Few would bet now that Republicans -- or the evidence -- could ever muster the two-thirds majority necessary for conviction. But then again, few ever guessed that they would land the roundhouse they're about to on Thursday.