At least three Republican Senators announced yesterday that they would vote against the two articles of impeachment involving perjury and obstruction of justice. Three other Republicans may vote against at least one article. Others may follow suit and vote against one or both articles.

Even the efforts to censure the President for his conduct is dying.

The Republicans who broke ranks from the Grand Old Party are Senators Arlen Spector (Pennsylvania), Jim Jeffords (Vermont) and John Chafee (Rhode Island), all moderate Republicans from the East Coast.

Their decision, and its fallout, could leave the GOP short of even a simple majority of 51 in the drive to convict Clinton, let alone get the 67 votes needed in a Senate of 100 members. Republicans number 55 in theSenate.

The decision of the moderate Republicans came in course of day on which the Senate entered a second day of closed door deliberations on the trial, although ``speechifying'' for posterity maybe a more accurate description of what they are doing.

Having already decided which way they are going to vote (on Thursday or Friday, depending on when they finish the gabfest), the Senators are getting 15 minutes of talk time to ensure that their comments go into the Congressional Record, which will remain sealed for years to come.

The President and his aides are delighted at the developments but are keeping mum at the moment, having declared the White House a ``gloat-free zone.''

The general feeling is that the American people would want Clinton to appear like a whipped puppy. Any sign that the President and his team is celebrating his acquittal as a victory could bring about a backlash.

However, some reports say the President has already promised to wreak political vengeance against his inquisitors,especially hard-line Republican Congressmen who are electorally vulnerable.

Although Congressional elections are not slated until November 2000 (along with the next Presidential election), Clinton is said to have begun identifying constituencies where incumbent Republicans can be defeated, with a view to recapturing the House for the Democrats.

The Republicans now control the House by a narrow majority of 224-211. A change over in six of seven seats is enough to swing the balance. Although most of the hard-line Republicans come from safe conservative districts, some of them are thought to be electorally vulnerable.

Despite his personal job approval rating and popularity, Clinton's record at the hustings is spotty. He led his party to defeat in the 1994 and 1996 Congressional elections but regained some ground in 1998. In part, this is because Americans traditionally tend to vote different parties to the White House and the Congress to ensure a balance of power.

But the President is a formidablefund-raiser. He has already lined up coffer-filling events in nine cities over the next few weeks. ``He thinks winning back the House is part of his legacy,'' one of his advisors was quoted as saying.

The hunters may soon become the hunted in another sense too.

There is also talk in political and judicial circles of an investigation by the justice department into the conduct of Independent Counsel Ken Starr and the kind of contacts his office had with lawyers for Paula Jones.

Clinton supporters have said Starr's office colluded with Jones' lawyers in making an issue of the Lewinsky case after the latter were tipped off by Linda Tripp. Justice Department officials have said the investigations could also cover if Starr pressured Monica Lewinsky and leaked Grand Jury testimony to the news media.

The inquiry could result in Starr's removal from office. Although it comes at the tail end of the impeachment trial proceedings with the verdict almost in, it has the potential of setting off another round ofbitter, divisive and partisan wrangling that has been American politics for the last year.