Monica S. Lewinsky (AFP)

On Wednesday afternoon, after a day of testimony, Lewis -- who briefly required the assistance of a courthouse nurse -- was exhausted, but not done. She would be required to return again to complete her testimony. Her daughter's lawyer said Lewinsky was outraged by what Starr had done. A friend of Lewis who watched the television clips of her departure from the courthouse Wednesday said, "I have never seen her so bummed out."

Defending Clinton

For the president's defenders, the video of a distraught Marcia Lewis was an almost irresistible new talking point in their war against Starr. Instead they bit their tongues. The video, they believed, spoke for itself. "I think most Americans get that one," an administration official said.

Beginning with last weekend's talk shows, Clinton's supporters had seized the offensive against Starr, liberated by the earlier decision by David E. Kendall, the president's normally camera-shy chief attorney, to go out and publicly denounce the independent counsel for alleged leaks. On the Sunday shows, presidential advisers Rahm Emanuel and Paul Begala enthusiastically attacked Starr's investigation.

Marcia Lewis (Reuters)

"Sources in Starr's office are leaking, and that might be criminal -- a much more serious crime, frankly, than signing a false affidavit by a 24-year-old in a civil lawsuit," Begala said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Emanuel, appearing on CNN's "Late Edition," pointed to the investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800, completed in a year, and wondered why Starr's probe was still unfinished after nearly four years. "I'll tell you, the difference is one is done professionally, the other is done with real questions being raised by serious, serious former prosecutors and legal scholars wondering what is going on."

On the surface, the White House operated more normally than it had since the scandal first broke on Jan. 21. On Monday, Clinton promoted his proposal for a national debate to reform Social Security. The next day, he attended a retreat with House Democrats, where he received a rousing ovation. On Thursday, he and Vice President Gore traveled to Capitol Hill to promote the Democratic legislative agenda and call for an increase in the minimum wage. On Friday, he went to Philadelphia to challenge Congress to pass comprehensive tobacco legislation. Throughout the week, administration officials continued to build pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and began to prepare the American people for military action.

Even bad news did little to throw the administration off stride. Portions of a report by the Senate committee investigating 1996 campaign fund-raising abuses were disclosed, with Gore taking a hit over his Buddhist temple fund-raiser. The story disappeared almost overnight. Attorney General Janet Reno called for an independent council to investigate whether Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had lied to Congress about a decision on an Indian casino. Clinton carried on almost as if oblivious to this and the other problems swirling about his presidency.

Senior administration officials continued to operate in the dark about the Lewinsky scandal, hoping that the combination of attacks on Starr and silence on the facts would, for a time, satisfy the public. Some Democratic friends of the president speculated on defense scenarios should things change -- how Clinton might cast his relationship with Lewinsky if she directly contradicted his claim that there was nothing sexual about it.

But the president's advisers knew the high approval rating Clinton was enjoying in the polls was either artificial or temporary, depending on the course of the investigation, and talked openly about the stakes involved.

White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry spoke to students on Monday at Harvard, where he was questioned about defending a president who many Americans believe has lied about Lewinsky. McCurry assured his audience that he believed the president's denials. But later in an exchange, he weighed the potential implications for both the press and the president.

"If it turns out what the president said has not been fair and square with the American people, that has enormous implications," he said. "If it turns out that much of what has been reported in this environment ends up being not true, the damage that has been done to the institution of the press itself -- which is an indispensable institution of our self-government -- will be grievous, and I think that's lamentable."

Approval in the Polls

One of the most interesting aspects of the Lewinsky matter is what it has revealed to the American people about themselves. The president's standing in the polls, already high, has risen further since the initial news broke, seemingly in defiance of the laws of physics.

In a Washington Post poll, Clinton's approval rating has risen from 59 percent in the first week of the scandal to 67 percent at the end of the second week. A CBS-New York Times poll saw his approval rating climb from 55 percent to 73 percent on the night of his State of the Union address and then settle back to 66 percent last week. An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, with a relatively small sample, topped out Clinton's approval at 79 percent.

Clinton's ratings were not inconsistent with attitudes about other issues and institutions. Over the past few months, impressions of Congress have shown a similarly dramatic rise. The Post poll has recorded a 19 percentage-point increase in congressional approval since last fall, with 55 percent now approving of the way Congress is doing its job. A poll by the Republican firm American Viewpoint recorded a 24-point increase during the same period. Similarly, the belief that the country is heading in the right direction has increased dramatically in the past few months. In just two weeks, the Post poll recorded a 17-point increase in that barometer, with 64 percent on the positive side of the ledger.

Andy Kohut, who directs the Pew Research Center for People & The Press, cautioned that the president's higher approval ratings were not in any way endorsements of Clinton personally. Kohut said he believes Clinton has benefited both from a backlash against the press and support for the agenda the president outlined in the State of the Union address.

Kohut said his research shows that among those who are new converts to Clinton, those newly in the "approve" column since the scandal broke, fewer than one in five like both Clinton and his policies, while three in five like the president's policies but not the president. Among those who have long approved of the president's performance, Kohut said, three in five like both the president and his policies, while less than one-third said they liked only his policies.

In addition to the bipartisan boost Clinton has received because of the prevailing optimism in the country right now, he also has been aided by an element of partisans rallying behind him. The Post poll has asked people whether they believe Clinton has the honesty and integrity to be president. Between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31, the percentage who said he did rose from 51 percent to 55 percent. There was virtually no change in the attitudes of Republicans or independents, but among Democrats, Clinton's positive rating on that question jumped from 69 percent to 82 percent.

There are sharp differences in perceptions of Democratic women vs. GOP women on some aspects of the scandal. The CBS-New York Times poll has offered respondents several choices if it turns out that Clinton obstructed justice by attempting to persuade Lewinsky to lie about their relationship. The choices are to admit it and apologize; resign; face impeachment if he refuses to resign; or simply drop the whole matter.