Supporters of Mrs. Clinton have been counting on a kind of "scandal fatigue" to shield her from any more political damage rooted in the previous five years.

"Whatever happened to 'scandal fatigue'?"

Yes, we're all suffering from scandal fatigue, but rape?

But as the culture and machinery of scandal have become more deeply ingrained in Washington, the public is showing signs of scandal fatigue.

And frankly, we've all got a bit of scandal fatigue.

"It's no O. J." But scandal fatigue is not the main reason people are not paying attention.

At a certain point in this whole process, scandal fatigue set in.

And, even among conservative voters, Mr. Clinton may be benefiting from a kind of scandal fatigue and a backlash against what some see as the constant drumbeat of stories about the private affairs of public people.

Calculating that voters are suffering from scandal fatigue, Gary Hart has sent up trial balloons for a political comeback, eight years after the Donna Rice episode dispatched him from the Presidential campaign trail to obscurity.

Instead of admitting to scandal fatigue and fear of exasperating the public, reporters and politicians observe that the "statute of limitations" on the rape charge has expired.