The Voice of Monica Lewinsky was heard at last in the land as tapes of her notorious conversations with Linda Tripp about the man they nicknamed "The Creep" were played all day yesterday to Americans who say they are sick of the whole business.
Ms Tripp is heard providing her own analysis of Ms Lewinsky's voice. "You have a cute voice, Monica," she says at one point.
Earlier Ms Tripp tells Ms Lewinsky that on the phone she sounds like a "little Marilyn Monroe vixen".
The Tripp tapes disclose Ms Lewinsky's plan to tape herself and send the cassette to Mr Clinton. She and Ms Tripp, who dutifully records the tape for her pal, agonise over how to label it, wrap it, deliver it.
"Hi, handsome," Ms Lewinsky's tape begins. "I couldn't bear the idea of sitting down to write you another note, so I thought I'd tape it . . ."
The release of the tapes by the Judiciary Committee handling the impeachment inquiry into Mr Clinton's conduct came as the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, was preparing to testify to the committee tomorrow.
And now there is the big book deal with Ms Lewinsky and the first TV interview coming early next year with Barbara Walters on ABC's 20/20 programme. A $600,000 advance, plus bonuses for best-seller rankings, has been agreed between Ms Lewinsky and publishers in Britain and the US.
The book, based on Ms Lewinsky's account of her affair with Mr Clinton, will be written by Andrew Morton, author of the biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. There will be further earnings for Ms Lewinsky from the sale of foreign TV rights.
The White House is not enamoured of this sudden revival of Lewinskiana as the President gets ready to travel to Asia, but can take consolation from the latest poll showing his approval ratings at 66 per cent, and only 26 per cent in favour of continuing the impeachment hearings.
But on the Iraq crisis, the poll shows 53 per cent of Americans believe that President Saddam Hussein came out on top, compared with 37 per cent who say Mr Clinton was the winner.
The 37 tapes of 22 hours of telephone conversations which Ms Tripp taped unknown to Ms Lewinsky tell us nothing new. The transcripts, with the expletives and obscene bits deleted, were released last September as annexes to the Starr report. But titbits such as Ms Lewinsky's declaration of her love for Mr Clinton and discussions about Ms Lewinsky's blue dress were played endlessly.
Commentators opined on the tone and inflections of Ms Lewinsky's voice and pointed out how Ms Tripp was leading her on to get material incriminating to President Clinton.
A spokesman for the White House, which could not think of an interesting comment on the audio-tapes, repeated earlier criticism of the "dumping of salacious material" contained in the Starr report.
President Clinton and his lawyers were working on the answers to the 81 questions which Mr Henry Hyde, chairman of the committee, sent to the President. The answers which are to be given under oath are supposed to help the committee to deal with the allegations that Mr Clinton committed perjury, tampered with witnesses and obstructed justice arising out of his affair with Ms Lewinsky.
Mr Starr will spend a full day tomorrow testifying to the committee. The White House has been allotted 30 minutes to question him, and he will have two hours to make his presentation. Each of the 37 committee members will be given five minutes to question the independent counsel.
The committee, which has a Republican majority, will later vote on whether to send articles of impeachment to the full House of Representatives. If the House voted for impeachment it would then be up to the Senate to conduct a trial of the President unless some compromise was reached such as a motion of censure.
President Clinton leaves today for a visit to Japan and South Korea on a rescheduled Asia tour. The White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, told reporters Mr Clinton would make a stop in the US territory of Guam on his return.