Instead, Dougherty stuck to the tried-and-true GOP political formula of the last decade, seeking to use Borski's little-publicized votes on issues like heroin-needle exchanges and pensions for congressional felons to portray the Democrat as liberal and out-of-touch.
``I don't see it as an issue publicly generating any kind of action one way or the other,'' said Dougherty, when asked about the Clinton sex scandal.
Indeed, none of the 200 activists in the crowd asked Dougherty about the affair, even though it could lead to the first impeachment of a president in 130 years.
Don't ask.
Don't tell.
That sums up the political strategy for Republican congressional candidates when it comes to the issue that is consuming GOP lawmakers when they're inside the Beltway - and that is drawing either yawns or utter contempt from voters on weekends.
The question, of course, is whether the House should open formal impeachement hearings into Clinton's alleged efforts to to cover up the Lewinsky affair.
The political spin on how Republicans should handle this matter on the campaign trail has gyrated like a top. The latest polls conducted and released last week have suggested that voters are so fed up with hearing about the whole issue that GOP candidates would be wise to not even bring up Clinton's conduct.
And so, most aren't.
``It's been real,'' said Democratic political consultant Neil Oxman, whose Philadelphia firm is advising about 15 congressional candidates across the United States, when asked about the possibility of a voter backlash against Republicans.
He said many of the Democrats whom he advises and who are locked in close races saw new polling data last week that shows they have gained as a majority of voters express that they have tired of hearing about the impeachment affair and want the whole matter dropped.
