The Year In 'Toons

AllPolitics looks back at the sharpest, funniest cartoons of 1997

January 1997: As cannon shots echoed over the Capitol, William Jefferson Clinton was inaugurated for his second term as president. The Democratic Party campaign fund-raising scandal was just beginning to heat up, inspiring Bob Lang to speculate on the president's guest list.

February 1997: The Lincoln Bedroom, John Huang, coffees, the China Connection. On a near-daily basis, new details of the Democratic Party's fund-raising strategy emerged, prompting questions about the role of overseas money and allegations of a White House for sale. Steve Brodner targeted the White House coffees hosted by Clinton for potential donors, while Mike Luckovich looked at the president's zeal for fund-raising and those controversial White House phone calls.

March 1997: With the continuing revelations about questionable Democratic fund-raising, there were mounting calls for an independent prosecutor. Attorney General Janet Reno resisted, saying the independent counsel statute had not been triggered. Lang, along with congressional Republicans, wondered if Reno had another motivation. Meanwhile, Luckovich guessed at the reaction of the average American to the controversy.

And lest we forget the month's other big story, Brodner examined how Clinton's knee injury would affect his presidency.

April 1997: House Speaker Newt Gingrich, calling himself "a person of limited means," took a personal loan extended by former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to help pay his $300,000 ethics violation penalty. In the wake of the announcement, Bill Mitchell saw the move as beneficial for Dole, while Luckovich foresaw negative fallout for Gingrich

May 1997: Despite the month's "hard" news, it was the details of Chelsea Clinton's high school prom and graduation and, of course, her decision to attend Stanford University that drew the nation's attention. While some guessed the first daughter chose the West Coast school to escape her Washington life, Luckovich wondered if California was far enough.

Mitchell reflected on how the inscrutable Federal Reserve Board chairman's comments on the booming economy added yet another Alan Greenspan-ism to the collective consciousness.

June 1997: Paula Jones v. Bill Clinton made headlines, as a Supreme Court decision to allow the case to proceed while Clinton was still in office made a public trial seem all but inevitable. Mitchell examined the delicacies involved in the case's settlement talks, while Weyant speculated to which "distinguishing characteristics" Jones referred.

Meanwhile, the 25th anniversary of the Watergate break-in prompted Lang to compare Clinton to former President Richard Nixon and Luckovich to wonder about the future of the Whitewater investigation.

July 1997: A second Republican Revolution, an internal rebellion by dissident conservatives to topple House Speaker Newt Gingrich, nearly succeeded before Gingrich stomped it and his former right-hand Rep. Bill Paxon. Amid the mutinous debris lay plenty of questions: Weyant wondered if Gingrich could still control his troops; Lang suggested a possible new leader for the GOP; and Mitchell looked at the future for Paxon.

August 1997: As William Weld fought to keep alive his nomination as ambassador to Mexico, Luckovich suggested a different tack the former Massachusetts governor should take with Sen. Jesse Helms.

As the UPS strike disrupted package delivery nationwide, Clinton refused to intervene. Lang guessed why.

September 1997: Weld lost his fight to become the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, but Mitchell still saw a bright political future for him.

Calling it a "cost-of-living adjustment," Congress voted to raise its salary 2.3 percent. But if it wasn't a "pay raise," Lang wondered, why was it done so quietly?

October 1997: In several waves, the White House released hundreds of newly discovered video tapes showing Clinton at Democratic fund-raisers and at the infamous White House coffees. Though their delayed release outraged Republicans and the Justice Department, no smoking gun emerged from the tapes and Luckovich equated watching them to an undesirable experience. And Mitchell was more interested in a hypothetical recording of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's meeting with Clinton. Meanwhile, Weyant noted some hypocrisy in the partisan back-and-forth over campaign fund-raising.

November 1997: Sen. Fred Thompson, chairman of the Senate committee probing 1996 campaign fund-raising, shut down his hearings, saying, "I will not be having hearings just for the sake of having additional hearings." As the Tennessee Republican bowed out, Mitchell was reminded of another political exit.

Republicans swept the four major races on Election Day '97, maintaining control of the statehouses in New Jersey and Virginia, city hall in New York City and a New York congressional seat serving Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. Lang offered his reason for why the Democrats fared so badly.

December 1997: The president's race initiative ran into some bumps as critics charged that the national dialogue launched by Clinton on race relations in American was only a monologue that didn't include conservative views. Luckovich guessed that Americans found more entertaining topics to debate.

As the new first dog Buddy took up residence at the White House, the president, the press and the nation were gripped with a severe case of puppy love. But some were immune from the disease, according to Mitchell.

In Other News:

Wednesday Dec. 24, 1997

• The Year In 'Toons
• Clinton: 'Measure Of Comfort' In Verdict
• Clinton Wants More Aid For Homeless People
• U.S. Prepares Korea Aid Package
• Clinton Plans Some Recreational Shopping

News Briefs:
• Tucker Granted Medical Leave
• Rep. Schiff Battles Cancer