High Stakes

President Clinton journeys to Capitol Hill tonight with his political career in grave danger, and with Congress and the administration alike struggling to conduct the public's business in the midst of an extraordinary crisis centering on allegations involving the president's sex life.

Vice President Gore Monday was point man for a pre-State of the Union administration blitz of Capitol Hill, assuring members of the House New Democrat Coalition that he accepts Clinton's claim that the allegations in the Monica Lewinsky affair are false.

However, in one of the first public shots at Clinton from the GOP camp, Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman Larry Craig of Idaho announced he has decided not to attend the State of the Union address, telling reporters he instead plans to view the speech, which will take place only steps away in the Capitol, from his office.

Craig, who has attended State of the Union addresses in the past, said of his choice to stay in his office, "I believe that's the appropriate thing for me to do at this time." But Senate Majority Whip Nickles Monday brushed aside suggestions that Republican members of Congress might use the occasion of the president's speech to signal their disapproval. Nickles said he is "confident they will act with the appropriate respect," although as often happens, some members may not attend simply because it tends to be a long, late night.

House and Senate GOP leaders met Monday evening to discuss their 1998 legislative agenda, and conspicuously refused to comment on anything else. House GOP leaders gathered early Monday afternoon and met until well into the night, taking about an hour in the early evening to huddle with their Senate counterparts.

Leaving the joint leadership session, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who tonight will give the Republican response to the State of the Union address, said only that the group discussed issues such as Iraq, balancing the budget, appropriations and tax cuts. Earlier Monday, House Speaker Gingrich mentioned as GOP goals for 1998 tax cuts, parental choice in education, combating teen drug use and initiating a national dialogue on retirement security.

Other objectives cited by members of the House GOP leadership included reining in entitlement spending, reducing the size of the federal government, healthcare choice, and workplace flexibility for working parents.

House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., whose committee would initiate and undertake any impeachment proceedings, told CongressDaily his panel would have to receive specific and credible evidence the president committed impeachable acts from Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Right now, Hyde said, there are only unsubstantiated allegations and rumors being circulated.

On the Democratic side, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Monday issued a strong statement of support for Clinton, but House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., have yet to go beyond careful statements issued last week calling for a speedy, fair investigation of the charges.

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., a New Democrat Coalition co-chairman, said Gore, who hastily exited Monday's meeting without speaking to a throng of reporters, "strongly reinforced his confidence in the statement that the president made today and has made with regard to the issue that has been such a distraction to the day- to-day business at the White House."

Moran then registered his own opinion that Clinton should be taken at his word.

He was seconded by a fellow New Democrat, Rep. Calvin Dooley of California, who added, "I think I speak for the vast majority of the Democratic members of Congress who believe the president and are interested in getting back at the work of the American people."

Dooley then pronounced himself satisfied with the president's explanation for now, saying Clinton does not "need to speak or elaborate anymore at this point in time."

Gore used most of the meeting to discuss issues other than the scandal, including a plan to sell technology to other countries to help them improve their environments, according to Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn.

Tanner said Gore revealed Clinton will also "touch on" entitlement reform in his speech tonight.

Gore also used the meeting to applaud the cooperation that New Democrats have had with the administration. Tanner, asked if Gore was considered a soul mate of the New Democrats, said the vice president had a "comfort level" with the moderate group. Moran told CongressDaily that Gore also told those assembled about the "very strong need" for granting Clinton's fast track trade negotiating authority.

"They do feel they need to move forward with it," Moran said after the meeting. "It's my expectation that they will." Meanwhile, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Monday said he is reserving judgment as the country awaits an explanation into the allegations.

"I think it's in the president's interest, clearly, to the degree that he can, to answer every single question and to be as detailed and as forthcoming as possible," Kerry said during a news conference on child care. "I think absent that, it simply gets cloudier and more complicated."

Kerry was reluctant to speak forcefully on the president's behalf: Asked if he believes Clinton's denial of the allegations, Kerry said, "I want to believe him."

Rep. Joseph Kennedy, D-Mass., in his district Monday, was more vigorous in defending the president. Kennedy said he was confident Clinton would demonstrate his innocence. "To me it's a lot of yakking and yammering over allegations," Kennedy said at a press conference on childhood hunger in Somerville, Mass. "Don't react to allegations. Allegations are only that, allegations. They are not an investigation and they have not proven anything."

And on the legislative front, the days before Congress returns usually feature a steady stream of news conferences showcasing members' priorities and proposals, but this year the crisis at the White House has made it nearly impossible for members to raise the curtain on their legislative initiatives.

Some have given up trying. Last week, Reps. Steve Largent, R- Okla., and Bill Paxon, R-N.Y., united behind a proposal to sunset the tax code. Largent joked that during his career as an NFL wide receiver his timing was essential to success and lamented that he might be losing his touch, as the tax plan has been completely overshadowed.

At a news conference last week, Largent and Paxon answered a few questions about the tax code and mostly dodged queries about the president's predicament.

On Friday, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., unveiled a tax reform proposal that he said was so easy to understand and politically balanced that it could pass this year.

But he too ended up spending his time refusing to answer a flurry of questions about the president. Acknowledging the futility of engaging the public's interest on taxes, he opened a news conference by comparing his announcement to the unveiling of a new lemonade stand in the Arctic.

And Monday, Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., canceled a press conference on childcare proposals because he "felt with the heavy news flow" it would be better to wait until after the president's State of the Union address tonight.