A new round of documents to be made public in the impeachment investigation of President Clinton contains few surprises but plenty of ammunition for further argument in Congress, both sides said yesterday.
Democrats and Republicans agreed that the 4,000 pages of grand jury testimony, FBI interviews and transcripts of Ms Linda Tripp's secretly-recorded conversations with the former White House intern, Ms Monica Lewinsky, were unlikely to alter radically the debate over whether Mr Clinton committed an impeachable offence.
But it could buttress arguments on either side, as both parties searched for material to boost their case among the third and final round of evidence to be made public from the 18 boxes sent to Congress by the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr.
The material will be made public tomorrow by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which will meet next Monday to consider whether to launch a formal impeachment inquiry.
A new Washington Post poll, reported in yesterday's editions of the newspaper, showed that three out of four Americans approved of Mr Clinton's handling of the economy and his job approval rating was 63 per cent, near its all-time high.
Three out of five people surveyed disapproved of the way Republicans are handling the investigation of Mr Clinton's admitted improper relationship with Ms Lewinsky and 55 per cent felt Congress should drop the matter.
But among likely voters, a 53 per cent majority said Congress should hold impeachment hearings. Likely Republican voters favoured formal hearings by 6:1, while likely Democratic voters were opposed 3:1. Those polled included 1,505 adults, including 715 likely voters.
The poll showed that 66 per cent of the general public and 60 per cent of likely voters opposed Mr Clinton's impeachment and removal from office, based on what they know now.
Six out of 10 people polled favoured congressional censure instead.
Some details are emerging about soon-to-be-released testimony, including Mrs Hillary Clinton's knowledge of her husband's contact with the White House intern.
Officials familiar with the material said the White House adviser, Mr Sidney Blumenthal, says he raised a question about Ms Lewinsky with Mrs Clinton and was told not to worry, that the president was "ministering to a troubled young person".
Meanwhile, in Chicago, Oprah Winfrey said yesterday that talks to have Ms Lewinsky appear on her top-rated talk-show failed over money.