The impeachment drama in Washington is back in the headlines again - five weeks after we all pronounced it dead.

Five weeks ago, the Democrats actually won seats in the mid-term elections to Congress, elections in which everyone expected a backlash against Bill Clinton's immoral behaviour, and a significant swing towards the right.

The pundits were confounded. The White House was delighted. Newt Gingrich, Republican leader of the House of Representatives, promptly fell on his sword and resigned.

But the lesson of this long-running story is that things change. The conventional wisdom evaporates. President Clinton has once again tumbled from hero to zero, or at least, he's back on the defensive.

Answers, or lack of them, anger Republicans

Why the change? To put it simply, Congressional Republicans are hopping mad. They feel the White House reacted to the Democrats' election success by acting in an arrogant, aggressive, "inappropriate" manner.

They were particularly angered by Bill Clinton's responses to 81 questions posed by the House Judiciary Committee. The questions called on him to "admit or deny" various charges: he chose to evade, procrastinate or redefine the question.

So this week impeachment proceedings are getting under way in earnest. Tuesday and Wednesday are allotted for the president's defence. He won't speak, but his lawyers are bringing forward 14 witnesses: former Congressmen, former prosecutors, and a sheaf of legal experts. They will argue that his misdemeanours simply do not rise to the level of impeachable offences.

On Thursday, the two lawyers for Congressional Democrats and Republicans will sum up their opposing cases, and later that day, the House Judiciary Committee will begin debate on whether to vote through articles of impeachment for the first time since Richard Nixon and Watergate.

Censure not an option

Will they vote yes? Almost certainly. The committee is dominated by Republicans. And the Republican strategy is being spearheaded by hard-liner Tom DeLay of Texas, the party's number three in the House of Representatives.

He is determined to push this through to full debate on the floor of Congress. And he's set against a compromise option of censure. As he put it in August, "I will fight to ensure that censure never sees the light of day in the House of Representatives."

The key question is, how many articles of impeachment will pass? Will there be one, on perjury, or several, on perjury, the obstruction of justice, and the abuse of power?

And more significantly, when the debate moves to the full House, a move expected in the week of 14th December, will there be a majority there for a formal vote of impeachment?

Public opinion is key

Much then could depend on public opinion, and both sides know it. For the past five weeks, the public has seemed to shrug off this issue.

The opinion polls show that most people disapprove of Bill Clinton's immoral conduct, and they believe he should be punished, but at the same time, they believe that he deserves to stay in office.

Now, Republicans are hoping that President Clinton's defence strategy will create its own backlash and that his lawyers will appear complacent and contemptuous of an important constitutional process.