The Starr Report didn't present the evidence in an impartial manner as contemplated in the independent counsel law.
Also shortlisted were contributions from actor Richard E Grant, US prosecutor Kenneth Starr for the Starr Report and former Home Secretary, Lord Hurd, who this year chaired the judging panel of the Booker Prize.
In the House Judiciary Committee a panel of distinguished former Federal prosecutors testified that a responsible Federal prosecutor would not have brought a criminal prosecution on the basis of the case set out in the Starr Report on which the House Judiciary Committee relied.
Two Democratic sources who have been briefed on the materials accompanying the Starr report -- which were not publicly released with the report Friday but which have been made available to members of the Judiciary Committee and their staffs -- tell CNN that they contain no new blockbuster allegations.
Barely a year later, after the Stephen Glass fiasco (see "Forbes smokes out fake New Republic story on hackers, " Forbes Digital Tool, May 11), the online distribution of the Starr Report, and the proliferation of serious news outlets on the web, only the most undesirable demographic--the hopelessly uninformed--would dispute the legitimacy and power of online media.
Motivated by curiosity, boredom, and hunger for a little power, they range from the mildly annoying (such as the Hacking for Girlies group that brought down the New York Times site on the day the Starr Report came out) on up to the criminal "crackers" (such as Vladimir Levin, who allegedly transferred millions of dollars from Citibank's mainframe computers to accounts in Finland and Israel).
When Mr Starr presents his report on all this to Congress, minds may change.
But if Starr has a report to deliver, the House will be forced to deal with it.
Starr's report was so novelistic that reading it had the effect of redrawing the characters we have watched now for so long.
But the members of the House and Senate are no more eager to receive Starr's report now than they were seven months ago.
By Friday the Democrats had heard, for the first time since Starr's report was released, conciliatory talk from a key member of the Gingrich team.
"My duty, on the other hand, as a senator, in accord with the Constitution and the independent counsel law, is to withhold judgment on certain critical questions until the House of Representatives has received Judge Starr's report, reviews their findings and decides whether or not to act upon them, " Lott said.
CNN's John King, Sheila MacVicar, Karl Penhaul, Robin Oakley and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Jill Dougherty, Jamie Crawford, Chris Lawrence and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Richard Roth, Chelsea Carter, Amir Ahmed and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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CNN's Dana Bash, Dan Lothian, Deirdre Walsh, Mike Mount and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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Carter, AnneClaire Stapleton, Deborah Feyerick, Sara Weisfeldt and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Tom Cohen, Brianna Keilar, Dan Lothian and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Ashleigh Banfield, Drew Griffin, Dave Alsup, Carol Cratty, Brian Todd and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's John King, Alec Miran and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Alan Duke, Mallory Simon and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Pierre Meilhan and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Kevin Liptak and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
CNN's Elise Labott, Jeanne Meserve, Carol Cratty, Richard Quest, Nic Robertson, Christian Purefoy, Tom Cohen, Mike Ahlers, Alona Rivord, Mohammed Jamjoom, Miguel Susana and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
Which is why Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich spent part of the past four months trying to work out a process for dealing with a report from Starr that maximizes the potential political benefits for Republicans while shielding them from charges of excessive partisanship.
In any case, who knows what Mr Starr will tell Congress in the report he is expected to deliver next month?
CNN's Jessica Yellin, Elise Labott, Barbara Starr and Jill Dougherty contributed to this report.
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