The Week

■ Bill Clinton says he wants to send a robot to Mars. But what will the Vice President do when he gets there?

■ Democrats led by Rep. David Bonior (D., Mich.) are demanding that the House Ethics Committee waive its usual procedures and immediately release a preliminary fact-finding report in which the committee’s outside counsel purportedly discusses the use of tax-deductible funds to support a history course Newt Gingrich taught in Georgia. Under committee rules, ethics complaints cannot be filed within sixty days of a general election, so as to avoid the very politicizing Bonior et al. are attempting here. Almost all Bonior’s many ethics complaints about Gingrich have been dismissed or found to be minor or technical infractions. The Ethics Committee should not release its final report until it’s ready. Meanwhile, it should commission one on the allegations of bank fraud, tax fraud, and financial-disclosure fraud wafting around Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

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■ Bill Clinton says he wants to send a robot to Mars. But what will the Vice President do when he gets there?

■ Democrats led by Rep. David Bonior (D., Mich.) are demanding that the House Ethics Committee waive its usual procedures and immediately release a preliminary fact-finding report in which the committee’s outside counsel purportedly discusses the use of tax-deductible funds to support a history course Newt Gingrich taught in Georgia. Under committee rules, ethics complaints cannot be filed within sixty days of a general election, so as to avoid the very politicizing Bonior et al. are attempting here. Almost all Bonior’s many ethics complaints about Gingrich have been dismissed or found to be minor or technical infractions. The Ethics Committee should not release its final report until it’s ready. Meanwhile, it should commission one on the allegations of bank fraud, tax fraud, and financial-disclosure fraud wafting around Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.