Trial: A No-News Snoozer

WASHINGTON: Is history supposed to be this boring? Four House managers have had their turn in front of the Senate jury, and there's been nary a revelation in sight -- where were the "nuggets" that James Sensenbrenner promised us? Where, even, was the "cheap mystery" that the White House scorned? Only hours into the case against the President, the networks were switching back to soaps and prosecutors had a dilemma: convincing the jury that they need to hear more of the same. "It's kind of a Rodney King tape problem," says TIME White House correspondent Jay Branegan. "This drama has been played over and over -- there's no more shock value."

During one of the presentation's merciful breaks, CNN reported that the attitude among the Senate jury remained "professional." The trial felt at times like a Bizarro-world business meeting: handheld pointers, video clips and bold-colored charts listing the occasions that Monica and the President exchanged gifts. But by the time the fourth manager, Asa Hutchinson, asserted that "the big question is, does the President return Monica Lewinsky's call? Yes he does," you could almost hear the thunk of Senate foreheads hitting tabletops in stultifying-speech-induced slumber. "For the majority of Americans, who believe that what the President did isn't worthy of impeachment," says TIME senior writer Eric Pooley, "this is the terminus of absurdity."

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