Senate's would-be candidates can't wait for the trial to end

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, February 11, 1999

WASHINGTON -- When Senator John F. Kerry talked with Senator John McCain recently, the two quickly agreed on one thing: The impeachment trial of President Clinton was making it difficult to launch a presidential campaign.

McCain, the Arizona Republican, is all but certain to run for president, his aides said, while Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat, expects to make up his mind within the next two weeks.

But neither man wants to announce his presidential intentions during the trial, fearing it would seem too political and would be overshadowed by the deliberations about Clinton's fate.

"Free the Senate!" Kerry said yesterday, explaining that the trial has delayed his decision by six weeks. "I am ready to quote Martin Luther King and say, 'Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!' "

The damage from the delay is clear: Every week the senators put off their decision, they fall another $500,000 to $600,000 behind in the crucial race for campaign money to bring in the $26 million to $31 million this year that political experts say is needed to compete strongly in the primaries.

Moreover, Kerry and McCain have concerns about how their vote on the impeachment articles might affect their campaigns. McCain, for example, is counting on support from political independents and could be hurt if he votes to convict Clinton.

The trial has given rise to a new round of personal questions. McCain has been asked by the news media recently about whether presidential candidates should be asked about their personal lives, including the reason why McCain's first marriage broke up. McCain responded that all he intends to say is that he was responsible for the breakup.

Vice President Al Gore, meanwhile, could be hurt if the scandal-weary public decides there needs to be a fresh face in the White House.

With polls showing that many people are uninterested or are fed up with the trial, candidates from outside Congress might have the most to gain. Texas Governor George W. Bush, for example, has condemned Clinton's actions, but doesn't have to vote on impeachment. Bush, a Republican, has repeatedly been asked whether any of his personal activities would disqualify him.

"The way I'm going to answer questions about specific behavior is remind people that when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible," Bush has said.

Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said such statements are important in the context of the coming presidential campaign.

"It is very, very significant that McCain and Bush are trying to get ahead of the curve, trying to inoculate themselves on personal questions, on personal behavior," Rothenberg said. "McCain has not only acknowledged marital problems; he has taken responsibility for it."

Howard Opinsky, a spokesman for McCain's presidential exploratory committee, said that the trial has put extraordinary constraints on the senator, but that McCain found time to go to New Hampshire recently on his first campaign-style foray. Opinsky said McCain could benefit from the trial's aftermath if there is a public appetite for a reform-minded candidate.

Opinsky said he didn't know how McCain would vote on the articles of impeachment and thus couldn't say how the matter would affect the campaign. McCain has declined to discuss the trial until it is over.

A third senator, Republican Bob Smith of New Hampshire, has filed his presidential candidacy papers and has begun collecting money. Representative John Kasich, an Ohio Republican who supported impeachment, is expected to run. Both men have been highly critical of Clinton.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle, meanwhile, has sought to turn the Clinton impeachment to his advantage, noting that his once-ridiculed campaign for "family values" is more attractive in the aftermath of the revelations about Clinton's relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky.