Impeachment Trial Keeps Washington Abuzz With Political Speculation

As the Clinton impeachment trial rounded third and headed home this week, spectators flocked to Washington to watch the final plays of the game. Tickets for the taping of Politically Incorrect were in great demand with host Bill Maher’s roster of impeachment week pundits including comedian Joan Rivers, game show host Pat Sajak, former Texas governor Ann Richards, Representatives Steve Largent and Sheila Jackson Lee, and filmmaker John Waters. . . . Rave reviews in for Elizabeth Dole’s first major political speech as she tests the waters for a presidential run in 2000. That opportunity may explain why the Doles — both political pros — are reluctant to sign a high-fee lecture contract with a world cruise ship over the millennium. . . . Tipper Gore is doing all she can to help her vice-president husband, Al Gore, become the next president. She shows off her new slim look and nip-and-tuck (face and eye lift), as she speaks out on issues such as child care and women’s health. . . . Monica Lewinsky’s multi-millionaire stepdad, R. Peter Straus, offered moral support during her videotape testimony, but took a break to drop by the bargain-hunter’s paradise, Filene’s Basement, to return some women’s apparel. Mr. Straus is a long-time friend of Vernon Jordan, who gave the eulogy at his wife’s funeral. . . . Fueling talk she’ll run for Senate from New York in 2000, Hillary Clinton is apparently apartment-hunting in the Big Apple. She is not the first first lady to seek a New York get-away during her husband’s administration: Eleanor Roosevelt did, too. . . . Virginia governor James Gilmore hasn’t announced plans to run for president, but is trying out the role in the television mini-series Netforce, where he portrays a “Monica-free” president. He has also hinted — playfully — that acting might be in his future when his current job is up in three years. . . . Paula Jones, who has given her first print interviews to the Australian and British press, has signed with Jack Gordon, former husband and manager of LaToya Jackson, in her bid to become a media personality. Ms. Lewinsky is also setting her sights on Britain. Monica’s Story, penned by Andrew Morton, biographer of Diana, Princess of Wales, will soon be released with more than half-a-million copies in the first printing. That should help pay her legal fees.