When Monica Lewinsky raised her right hand to take the oath, she still looked like the needy, frightened–and lovelorn–intern she once was. Was she now comfortable testifying about a certain late-night call from the president? ““Comfortable, I don’t know,’’ she said with a smile. ““But I’m ready to talk about it.’’ And then she smoothly refused to be trapped into helping the prosecution make their case: that Bill Clinton had suggested that she testify falsely in a legal case, that he had conspired to hide evidence in that case, and tried to ensure her silence by finding her a swell job in a different city.

So this is how an impeachment ends in the age of cable: not with bombshells but sound bites. Lewinsky finally appeared on camera just as the soap opera she helped write was canceled. But the scandal she symbolizes will influence the politics that follow: a brewing civil war within the Republican Party, the 2000 presidential campaign now beginning. She will be at the center of culture wars carried out between the covers of tell-all books and in arguments about the meaning of the year the country has been through–and would just as soon forget.

The ““trial of the century’’ in the Senate hasn’t really been about finding the facts. Most voters have long since concluded that Clinton probably committed the acts he was accused of–and that they don’t want him ousted for committing them. The Senate, accordingly, has been searching for a dignified (and politically safe) way out. Senators seemed eager to heed the heckler, Richard D. Llamas, who shouted advice from the Visitors Gallery last week: ““God almighty, take the vote and get it over with!’’ That made an impression on Sen. Mitch McConnell, an influential Republican from Kentucky. ““The man was arrested,’’ said McConnell, ““but I think he had the right idea.''

The Framers meant conviction to be difficult; it requires a two-thirds vote. The math has always been simple: if the Senate’s 45 Democrats stuck together, Clinton was home free. They did and he is. Looking at the numbers–and the president’s popularity–Republicans joined in staging a limited and controllable show trial in reverse, in which the foreordained verdict was ““not guilty.’’ House managers wanted to depose 14 witnesses; the Senate agreed to three. Last week the managers took videotaped testimony from Lewinsky, superlawyer Vernon Jordan and White House spinner Sidney Blumenthal. The results were impressively unrevealing.

Then came the only uncertain vote, on whether to call any ““live’’ witnesses. After viewing the tapes and transcripts, the Senate voted 70-30 not to call anyone to the well, not even Lewinsky. More important, an astonishing 25 Republicans joined the Democrats–a mass defection that amounted to a plea for a quick conclusion. The House managers presented their case by using snippets of videotape from the three depositions, as well as the portions of the president’s own taped testimony. ““Everybody wants this over, especially me,’’ Rep. Lindsey Graham declared in an emotional summation. ““But let’s not leave behind a taste that history cannot stand.’’ It was too little, too late, on a subject most Americans refuse to consider any longer. This week the Senate is expected to reject both articles of impeachment. No Democrats are expected to vote for either, and only the second, obstruction-of-justice count has a chance of overwhelming GOP support.

The final Senate question is: who can find political protection? The answer is, maybe no one. The GOP had hoped to persuade Democrats to join in a ““finding of fact’’ that Clinton was guilty of certain acts, even if he could not be removed. With bipartisan support, the Republicans could counter the argument that the entire impeachment process has been nothing more than a partisan jihad. Though a few moderate Democrats tantalizingly expressed interest, party discipline yanked them back. ““We were had,’’ groused a top GOP Senate staffer.

Now it’s the Democrats who want protection. They want Republican support for a post-vote ““censure’’ resolution, which would condemn Clinton’s conduct without specifically labeling it illegal. By Saturday night negotiators had gone through at least 17 drafts. But there are roadblocks to any censure deal. Some are technical. Under Senate rules, any one senator could object and the measure could be stalled by filibuster. More important, many Republicans don’t want to give Democrats protective cover for the 2000 election. ““If it’s truly strong and substantial, I could see it,’’ said McConnell. ““If it’s a kiss-your-sister, cover-your-rear vote, forget it.''

There’s bitterness within the GOP as well, and it could carry over into the next campaign. Republican senators privately disparaged the performance of the House managers. ““They didn’t have an easy situation, but they botched what they had,’’ said one. The managers were bitter at their lot, and in some cases view themselves as martyrs who will be repaid by GOP faithful at the grass roots. ““I’m getting hammered up here,’’ Graham told NEWSWEEK, ““but let me tell you something: they think I’m a hero back home.''

The insider-versus-outsider theme could play in the GOP’s presidential contest. Conservative activists–who exercise disproportionate power in the early stages of the presidential primary process–will try to make it so. ““The Republican senators are going to have to answer for this in history, and in the next election,’’ said Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation. GOP presidential contenders, he said, will be measured not only by their denunciations of Clinton, but by the GOP-led process that let him off the hook. ““The arguments about this case will go on forever,’’ Weyrich predicted. Participants and historians of all ideological stripes will begin weighing in; a half dozen major books are already underway.

At the White House, Clinton plans to move forward–fast. Another mea culpa speech is considered unlikely. ““There’s not much sentiment for looking back,’’ said one top White House aide. Officials are bracing for poll numbers to drop; they tend to when a Clinton crisis ends and his attention wanders. Aides have designed a new battle plan. He will campaign for a Social Security deal, and for a new form of tax-free savings accounts. He also will work on ““legacy enhancement’’ as kibitzer in chief for Al Gore’s campaign. So far, ironically, impeachment has helped the vice president by herding Democrats together in solidarity behind him, but he posts unimpressive ratings in matchups against George W. Bush and Elizabeth Dole. At some point Gore may have to explain his moral judgment of the man he’s served beside since 1993.

In the meantime, Monica’s Story will go on–and on. Her next mission is an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, and the launch of an as-told-to autobiography. Monica Lewinsky may make news yet again, but her days of making history seem just about over.