Senate Trial: A Show of Unity

WASHINGTON: Suddenly, there is hope for the Senate. Standing together in front of a bank of microphones, Majority Leader Trent Lott and his Democratic counterpart, Tom Daschle, took turns assuring reporters they were doing their best to bring bipartisanship back from the brink in time for the trial. Both men were optimistic about a full Senate get-together Friday morning, but the sticking point still stuck -- Daschle held firm to his caucus's stand against witnesses, while Lott refused to rule them out. The "98 other senators" that Lott referred to so ominously will have a lot to talk about.

At least they looked dignified on television. In a flurry of ceremony Thursday, the 13 House managers were sworn in, Judiciary Committee Chair Henry Hyde read the two articles of impeachment, and Chief Justice Rehnquist was sworn in as judge by the Senate's own Methuselah, Strom Thurmond. Then the Senate jurors bent and signed the oath book, each getting to keep his own ceremonial pen. With a tap of Rehnquist's gavel, the historic moment was complete, and Senators could get back to their squabble.

One thing Lott and Daschle agreed on: Both the House managers and the White House need to keep their noses out of what, for now, is strictly the Senate's business. It was the House, with a big assist from the White House, that stripped impeachment of its last shred of bipartisan solemnity -- just what the Senate is still trying gamely to preserve. With the trial now slated to begin on January 14, Trent Lott has a week to bang enough heads so that the second presidential impeachment in U.S. history will be something both parties -- and their constituents -- can reasonably be proud of.