The Week

■ Minnesota governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura wants former senator Lowell Weicker to be the Reform Party candidate for president. Only if you can body-slam Weicker’s ego, Jesse.

■ A new bipartisan “Battleground 2000” poll is showing a distinctly Republican trend in public opinion in the wake of impeachment. Voters are now evenly split on the question of which party should control Congress and lean toward the GOP for the presidency. While Clinton’s job-approval numbers are still high, support for him has become much less intense, particularly among older and independent voters. More than 50 percent of the public strongly disapprove of him personally. Only 36 percent believe the country is moving in the right direction, a sentiment that, given conditions of peace and prosperity, no doubt reflects the quality of Clinton’s leadership. Also telling is that on the question of “ethics and honesty,” on which the parties were tied in 1996, congressional Republicans now hold a 19-point advantage. A Democratic analysis states that the prominence of “values” among voters’ concerns is “the worst news in the poll for Democrats.” Supporters of impeachment have had to tell themselves that constitutional virtue is its own reward. But other payoffs may be in store.

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■ Minnesota governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura wants former senator Lowell Weicker to be the Reform Party candidate for president. Only if you can body-slam Weicker’s ego, Jesse.

■ A new bipartisan “Battleground 2000” poll is showing a distinctly Republican trend in public opinion in the wake of impeachment. Voters are now evenly split on the question of which party should control Congress and lean toward the GOP for the presidency. While Clinton’s job-approval numbers are still high, support for him has become much less intense, particularly among older and independent voters. More than 50 percent of the public strongly disapprove of him personally. Only 36 percent believe the country is moving in the right direction, a sentiment that, given conditions of peace and prosperity, no doubt reflects the quality of Clinton’s leadership. Also telling is that on the question of “ethics and honesty,” on which the parties were tied in 1996, congressional Republicans now hold a 19-point advantage. A Democratic analysis states that the prominence of “values” among voters’ concerns is “the worst news in the poll for Democrats.” Supporters of impeachment have had to tell themselves that constitutional virtue is its own reward. But other payoffs may be in store.