As the Monica-gate scandal begins to fade from the headlines, twenty-somethings around the country are drawing lessons from it -- as future politicians, students of sexual politics, and survivors of the Washington, DC intern culture. PNS asked three reporters working with our youth projects to share their views.

GENDER DIVIDE AT HARVARD WHEN IT COMES TO "THAT WOMAN"

BY CAILLE MILLNER (Caille Millner is a freshman at Harvard who writes a column for YO! Youth Outlook, a monthly newspaper by and about young people published by Pacific News Service.)

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. -- Interviewing fellow Harvard students about the recent Clinton scandal quickly reveals a wide gender gap over issues of power -- who holds it and what it means.

"This is not about the affair with that woman," says Leonard, 18, who is majoring in government. "This is about Clinton, a major figure in world politics, who can't keep his flaws under wraps.... When you're a public figure, you have to keep your record clean."

Ryan, also 18, says he is certain "this won't affect Clinton's right to lead the country. The whole thing is ludicrous. That woman shouldn't be the reason for impeachment."

That woman.

Talking to men, it is possible to forget that Monica Lewinsky -- a human being, a 21-year-old woman, who went to Lewis and Clark College and became an intern at the White House -- exists.

Quite honestly, I don't believe that if Clinton had a sexual relationship with Lewinsky he would be unfit to be president. I believe most Americans agree with me. But I am hurt by the dismissive attitude of the men I interviewed toward Lewinsky -- and their obliviousness to the other women affected by this scandal.

Women students, by contrast, while they gave me the usual responses about Clinton still being able to govern, tended to add something special to the analysis.

"I keep thinking about Chelsea," said Janice, 19. "She must be so upset with her dad right now. I just know the kids are making fun of her."

"I'd be afraid to work in Washington now," said Casey, 22. "I can see myself getting hit on by some nasty politician. And then go through that and have people call you a liar? No thanks!"

"Hillary is the real loser in the whole thing," Janice adds. "He's been showing her some real disrespect. I guess she's used to it by now."

Perhaps because it is easier for women to visualize themselves in a less powerful position, they are more able to sympathize with Monica, Chelsea, Hillary. The men responded from their own positions of power. As owners of a privileged place in society, the idea that a woman could oust the man they elected seemed unacceptable to them.

IF ALL POLITICIANS ARE LIARS, WHY GO INTO POLITICS?

BY DAVID GAITHER (David Gaither is an editor of The Beat Within, a writing program for incarcerated youth run by Pacific News Service, and a board member of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association.)

OAKLAND, CA. -- For a 22-year-old man contemplating a career in politics, the Clinton scandal can only be called discouraging.

"All politicians are liars" has become such a popular saying I have to ask why I would join such a group. At the same time, the crisis in the White House proves the validity of what I believe must be the guiding principle for politics -- morality.

I want to be a public servant, not a politician. Politicians are about side deals, posturing, kowtowing to lobbyists, lying. I want to represent my community, improve my neighborhoods, speak for my people.

I used to believe that a president's private life should not affect his ability to govern. But after taking on leadership roles in college organizations and getting involved in community activism, I realize moral character is the predominant factor of leadership. Integrity is important -- if you can cheat on your wife, lying to the public will come easy.

Your private life does affect your public role. It's not possible to promote family values while being a secret womanizer, any more than it is possible to admonish thieves while stealing from the public till.

Power without moral development is destructive both to those in power and those they serve. Immorality crippled the civil rights and Black Power movements. J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI's Counter Intelligence Program contributed to the demise of the Black Panther Party, but had it not been for the Panther leaders' drug habits, it might have survived. Hoover also used dirty tactics in trying to derail Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but his greatest weapon was compromising photos of the civil rights leader.

So today's movement is not about marches or sit-ins. The largest mobilization in this century was the Million Man March, not because it involved political, social or economic programs but in response to the theme of atonement -- raising our moral standards and rebuilding the black family. Strong families build sound communities and sound communities build healthy nations.

That's why, regardless of my community involvement or my future as a politician, my greatest public service will be to maintain my family. Since the March, I have married and we have had a daughter. That's more important than becoming a mayor, because self-improvement is the basis for community development.

As much as the nation needs a balanced budget, a health care system, racial reconciliation, cooperation between political parties, it needs moral integrity even more.

CONGRESSIONAL INTERNSHIPS OFFER NO THRILLS

BY ANNIE DECKER (Annie Decker is an editorial assistant for Pacific News Service.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "I want to learn about politics, to be inside the corridors of power."

That's what I said five years ago when I took a semester off from college to work as an intern in Washington, D.C.

I did learn about politics -- if only as an observer. I could have learned more by working in a grass roots campaign and reading the paper diligently. And while it's true that an internship brought me into some restricted areas, it didn't take me past the outer rings.

My political education in the office of Senator Harris Wofford (D.-Pa.) also taught me about my own political power. There were occasional thrills, such as a glimpse of the senator or getting a special photo ID. But these only revealed just how far a 19-year-old with big ideas was from wielding power in Washington.

No member of the office staff sexually harassed me as I worked late into the night -- certainly not Sen. Wofford. My supervisor tried to give me projects that interested me, and over all the office seemed to be among the least insincere and most concerned with substantive issues on the hill -- perhaps because of Wofford's imminent departure from office, his academic past, his overriding concern with health care reform and Americorps.

But sorting incoming mail, making photocopies of bills, and running to the basement cafe for someone else's coffee absorbed most of my time. I was relieved to finish the internship and return to my own projects.

Congressional internships mainly work as a way for public officials to get labor from those who can afford to work for free for a few months.

During my time as an intern, I also worked for a bakery -- earning an income my parents supplemented because the internship was "so worthwhile, my dear." Looking back, I'm inclined to think that cutting my finger repeatedly on the bagel slicer might have taught me the most useful lessons of that spring.