Early impeachment protesters were coming up Capitol Hill to rally in defense of Mr. Clinton.

Others were more assertive in their defense of Mr. Clinton.

In defense of Mr. Clinton I pointed out that he naturally assumed everybody knew the Lincoln Bedroom was a fake.

His defense of Mr. Clinton predates Ms. Lewis' tenure at the White House, he reminds.

He says he is writing the book to counter the cynicism and moral slippage that are sure to take root if the defense of Mr. Clinton's reported reported bad behavior goes unanswered.

But Mr. King says his defense of Mr. Clinton will probably only hurt him in a Republican primary.

In other developments today, the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee and the White House battled again over how the White House would present its defense of Mr. Clinton next Tuesday.

Several Democrats likened impeachment to a peaceful coup d'etat, salting their defenses of Mr. Clinton with warnings of political recriminations against Republicans from a scandal-weary electorate.

One of the few Democrats who spoke out forcefully in defense of Mr. Clinton was Representative Robert Wexler of Florida, a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Other Democrats like Senator John Kerry need to cease their myopic defense of Mr. Clinton on a matter about which neither the Senator nor the public has been fully informed.