At this point, Frank said his support ofClinton is merely political. "I want to lessensuffering, to end discrimination, to reducepoverty, to fight bigotry. Bill Clinton has beenan ally in those fights," Frank said. "If he ranagain, I would not support him."

However, Frank said he felt that Clinton hassuffered enough. "Bill Clinton has been veryseverely penalized. He cares a lot about his placein history, and that place is now quite shabby.He's endured public humiliation, and he has toface hurting his wife and child. The past year hasbeen hellish for him," he said.

Frank blamed much of the current politicaldebacle on the far right.

"Bill Clinton deeply angers the right wing, inmuch the same way Ronald Reagan annoyed the left.They're asking: 'What do these goddamn voters seein this guy?'" he said.

As a result, many Republicans are in anuncomfortable position, according to Frank, caughtbetween the public who want to let Clinton remainin office and the right who are "demanding hishead."

Frank challenged the audience to go out andvote.

"Eighteen, 19, and 20 year-olds don't vote verymuch...It's much more complicated to get adriver's license, and I don't know any 19year-olds who don't have one of the those," hesaid.

For some in the audience, this was Frank's mostresounding message. "There's a link betweenpolitics and public policy in our daily lives, andwe have control over that," said third-year lawstudent Sanders L. Adu. "His message to vote iswhat I'm going to take away from [the speech], andwhat everyone should."

Many of Frank's closing remarks dealt with therecent murder of Shepard. Frank stressed that thetwo men charged with the murder are only 21 and22, "barely out of high school."

When asked where he would place blame for themurder, Frank cited the Republican desire to cutfunding for secondary school programs tocounteract homophobia.

According to Frank, Republicans oppose theprograms on two grounds: they will lead to"acceptance" and they "promote" homosexuality.

Frank countered these attacks handily. "What isthe alternative to acceptance? Tragically, one isto get rid of [gays]," he said.

Adu was pleased that Frank discussed the recentmurder.

"It's important that he brought up MattShepard. It shows that if you have politiciansbashing [gays], there will be consequences," Adusaid.

The audience, comprised primarily of lawstudents, reacted very favorably to Frank,applauding him frequently.

But there were dissenters. "I did not hear muchnew stuff. It was very partisan. The truth isnever really said," Nan Ding '02 said.

Many audience members also directly challengedthe policies of Frank and House Democrats duringthe question-and-answer period, inspiring livelydebate.

At one point, Frank responded to a questioner,"You couldn't be more wrong."

Kratenstein was thrilled to have Frank,especially at such an opportune time.

"I was very pleased; he addressed impeachment,the most issue of the day. It's a constitutionalissue with a lot of legal dimensions, and havinghim in the law school was a great educationalexperience," said Kratenstei