ABSTRACT
Recent research on the 1998 election confirms Democratic analysis regarding the usefulness of the impeachment issue. Much of the Republicans' failure in 1998 is attributable to their handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Ironically, in the wake of William Jefferson Clinton's scandalous relationship, the Republicans lost two of their most prominent congressional leaders. Little more than a month after the elections, the House Judiciary Committee reported out four articles of impeachment, each passing on a strict party-line vote. Each of the articles of impeachment dealt specifically with the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton's testimony in the Arkansan Paula Jones hearings, and his alleged efforts to influence the testimony of other witnesses in the Jones hearings. Among the most serious of the allegations listed in the report of the independent counsel were perjury, subornation of perjury, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice.
