WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 -- Free seats at President Clinton's impeachment trial are available now, but tickets are reportedly harder to get than the hottest Broadway show. The most direct way to obtain a ringside seat to history is from one of the participants.
Each of the 100 senators who will be acting as jurors has been given one permanent seat and three rotating seats in the visitors galleries above the chambers. Others on the A-list include the White House, which gets 30 tickets; Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, 45 tickets; the diplomatic corps, 22; the House of Representatives, 20 and the Supreme Court, 9 -- one for each justice. The press will get 120 seats in a section of the chamber separate from the 596-seat public gallery. This accounts for most of the seats in the public gallery. The Senate is holding 50 seats open for members of the public willing to wait in long lines for a shot at the first-come, first-served seats. Senate staffers recommend arriving very early in the morning for a shot at the seats. Most of the remaining 20 seats have been set aside for the Senate leadership. ---
Copyright 1999 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
