White House Scrambles for Favorable Votes

WASHINGTON —  Two weeks ago, the White House was confident that impeachment was all but dead because of the strong Democratic showing in the November midterm elections.

Now, the probability of impeachment is palpable at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And the members of Clinton’s team are scrambling to find enough votes from moderate Republicans to defeat impeachment resolutions expected to go to the House next week.

The political magicians who have kept Clinton’s scandal-plagued presidency afloat are not sure they can succeed this time and defeat the measure in the House.

Many of the president’s friends and some political observers expect Clinton to pull a rabbit out of his hat as he often has in the past.

However, “there’s a question of whether the rabbit will come out dead or alive,” White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said gloomily.

In the weeks between the election and now, the president and many of his aides behaved, particularly in public, as though the impeachment process no longer existed.

“The sense of urgency was lost and people were beguiled by the election returns into a kind of complacency,” said a senior White House official. “What everyone underestimated was the relentless hatred of the president that motivates most of the Republicans and how their defeat in the election served to heighten their hatred.”

Others cited another factor in the surge in support for impeachment--the dismissive White House response to 81 written questions posed by the House Judiciary Committee about the Monica S. Lewinsky affair, which inflamed some moderate Republicans.

President Shows Relaxed Image

Even this week, as the committee prepares to vote on articles of impeachment, the president himself continued to project a relaxed, business-as-usual image.

On Wednesday, he talked with members of Congress from both parties about his plans for reforming Social Security, pinned a fourth star on Air Force Gen. Benjamin Davis and lit the national Christmas tree with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and home run hitter Sammy Sosa.

Lockhart said Clinton kept tabs on the committee’s hearings, though, and reviewed the testimony of his top lawyers, Charles F. C. Ruff and Gregory B. Craig.

The White House did not decide to put on a full-scale defense of the president at the hearings until late last week, the president’s advisors said. It summoned a cluster of favorable witnesses at the last minute, including one, former Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld, added only a day ago.

White House officials hope that the public defense moved at least some members of their target audience--the two dozen undecided Republicans in the House--to give Clinton’s position more thought.

“This thing has been frozen for days and I think we’ve helped ourselves this week a fair amount,” said one senior advisor to the president, who added that it is too early to know for sure.

But some believe that the president himself will have to engage more actively--publicly or privately--before he leaves Saturday for the Middle East.

“The president is in town 48 more hours,” said a senior political advisor. “We want to take advantage of his time here. What we do and how we do it is something we still have to work out.”

Possibilities suggested by various advisors include public remarks, in which Clinton would stress his remorse and that he takes full responsibility for his transgressions and personal appeals to certain members.

One Republican who has yet to declare his stance on impeachment, Rick A. Lazio (R-N.Y.), will accompany Clinton on his trip to Israel. Lazio has said he would like to hear more from the president before he makes up his mind.

Other members who are not on the trip may also hear from Clinton. “There are probably phones in Israel,” said one White House strategist.

Some White House officials were worried that the president would be out of the country for most of the time between the committee votes and the debate on the House floor next week.

White House officials acknowledged that they were caught off guard by the response of some GOP congressional leaders to November election results and public polls, which showed little popular support for impeachment.

“The election results, which were pretty clear, caused me to be surprised that the impeachment process was still proceeding straight ahead,” said Maria Echaveste, deputy chief of staff.

Clinton and his troops thought that they smelled victory when Democrats picked up five votes in the House and did not lose any in the Senate, defying the normal trend for a second-term president’s party in a midterm election.

White House advisors also thought the sharply partisan tone of the Judiciary Committee inquiry would help discredit the process.

Outside supporters said that overconfidence may explain why the White House gave so many responses to the 81 Judiciary Committee questions that seemed flippant and cagey.

Moderates Send Clear Signal

Some of the moderates whose votes the president must win to avoid being impeached by the House are making it quite clear what the White House must do now.

Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), who is undecided, said he has told two Cabinet members who contacted him that the president should get more directly involved in talking to swing voters, rather than make another public TV statement.

“He knows he has the public with him,” LaHood said. “I think he needs to talk directly with the people who make the vote. He needs to work a little of that Clinton magic that he’s supposed to have.”

White House aides will be talking to members and “we’ll be doing a lot of listening,” said one political advisor.

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Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this story