January 7, 1999
Web posted at: 10:38 a.m. EST (1538 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics) -- Forget 12 angry men. President Bill Clinton faces 100 senators, 55 of them Republicans. Only the second group to ever try a president of the United States, the Senate received the impeachment hot potato from House of Representatives on December 19.

The Senate leadership must decide how to conduct this trial of the century amid a highly partisan atmosphere in Washington. The public, which has consistently supported Clinton's job performance as president and does not endorse removing him, may ultimately judge the jurors at the ballot box.

Here are thumbnail profiles of some of the senators who may be influential in shaping the course and outcome of the trial:

Trent Lott: The Senate majority leader from Mississippi is more ideological than his predecessor, Bob Dole, but he has taken heat from conservatives for being too willing to compromise. Now, Lott faces steering the Senate through an impeachment trial, wrestling with some critical procedural issues such as how long an impeachment trial would last and whether witnesses would testify. A lawyer and onetime cheerleader for the University of Mississippi, Lott openly opposed Clinton's decision to launch military strikes against Iraq a day before the House was scheduled to debate four articles of impeachment against the president.

Tom Daschle: The politically agile South Dakotan has taken the lead in representing the Democrats' side in trial preparations and negotiations. Like his counterpart in the House, Dick Gephardt, Daschle may find himself steamrolled by a Republican majority.

Mitch McConnell: The third-term Republican senator from Kentucky and staunch opponent of campaign finance reform will oversee the trial proceedings as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.

Joseph Lieberman: The first Democrat to openly chastise the president on the floor of the Senate, Lieberman paved the way for other Democrats like New York's Daniel Patrick Moynihan and West Virginia's Robert Byrd to criticize Clinton's actions. Now Lieberman, Clinton's friend of almost three decades, has joined Republican Slade Gorton in suggesting an expedited four-day trial and a "test" impeachment vote. Like Clinton, the two-term senator from Connecticut also holds a law degree from Yale.

Slade Gorton: In the middle of his third term in the Senate, this onetime Washington state attorney general has joined Lieberman to endorse a brief trial and speedy resolution to the impeachment dilemma. A former colonel in the Air Force reserve, Gorton served in the Senate from 1981-87, then returned in 1995. He is on both the Appropriations and Budget committees and is part of Lott's leadership circle.

Robert Byrd: Byrd, the senior Democrat in the Senate, has held his West Virginia Senate seat since 1959. A strict constitutionalist, he opposed initial attempts to bypass a Senate trial as unconstitutional, but he concedes a censure is not unconstitutional and has been working with Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York on drafting such a resolution.

Here is a list of all the senators: