WHEN the votes are counted tomorrow night, William Jefferson Clinton will now look certain to be the first Democrat president elected to two successive terms since Franklin D. Roosevelt. That will be an achievement to savour for the self styled, "Comeback Kid".

But what will this vigorous man of 50 facing no more election campaigns do with his second term? For all the endless repetition about "building a bridge to the 21st century".

Americans have little idea of what is waiting for them on the Clinton bridge.

Perhaps he doesn't know himself. There are important factors beyond his control such as the make up of the new Congress.

It was noted how during his campaigning, the president avoided calling for the election of a Democratic Congress to help him to build the famous bridge. Knowing that he is not greatly trusted by the electorate, Mr Clinton sensed its reluctance to reward him with a compliant Democratic Congress as well as the White House. He was not going to push his luck.

But does he even want to have his Democratic party colleagues calling the shots on Capitol Hill? For the past two years, Mr Clinton has governed skillfully in spite of the Republican majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

There is an important reason, however, why Mr Clinton will bed hoping the Republicans lose control of one, or both, Houses and that is Whitewater. For the past two years, his life and that of his wife, Hillary, have been made miserable by the investigations into alleged scandals led by Congressional committees chaired by zealous Republicans.

A lot of this pressure would betaken off, if the committees fall into Democratic hands in the new Congress. But the outcome of the election will have little impact on the figure that the Clintons have most to fear.

This is the Independent Counsel, Kenneth Starr, who has been investigating if there are grounds for criminal charges against the president, his wife or their staffs over their Whitewater property development and other alleged scandals. These include misuse of FBI files, the dismissal of the White House travel office staff and now the activities of an over zealous fund raiser. Mr Starr could yet be a blight on a Clinton second term.

Assuming that Mr Clinton avoids the fate of Richard Nixon in his second term, what can America and the world expect from the bridge builder with his eyes now fixed on his place in the history books as well as the 21st century?

For Ireland there is the obvious issue of the Northern Ireland peace process and one of its key figures. George Mitchell, who is tipped strongly to be called to higher things. Any move by the former Senate majority leader to the Clinton team for the second term would not, of course, signal an abandonment of the peace process by the White House.

IT was understood in any case that Mr Mitchell's stint in Stormont Castle would be to get the all party talks off the ground but not to remain there to guide them indefinitely.

There is no indication that a new Clinton team will be ready to come up with any fresh initiative on Northern Ireland even if, as Mr Mitchell said last week, the peace process will "remain a high priority". Mr Clinton is known to take a keen interest in the Stormont negotiations and used his preparations with Mr Mitchell for the presidential debates to have lengthy discussions on the talks.

But as Mr Mitchell pointed out: "The decisions will be made by the participants themselves, not by Americans", not by the president, not by me.

This is not to say that US pressure will not be exercised behind the scenes to bring about a second IRA ceasefire or smooth the way for one, but White House sources shrug shoulders when asked how that can be done.

For Northern Ireland watchers, the future of another key Democratic figure, Senator Chris Dodd, will be closely monitored. He has a strong personal interest in Irish affairs and a holiday home in the west of Ireland. He is also being mentioned as the next Secretary of State as a reward for taking on the chairmanship of the Democratic Party following the rout of 1992 and rebuilding party morale and funds.

More pressing foreign policy concerns for a second term president will be Bosnia, NATO, Russia and the Middle East peace process. The fate of 15,000 US troops in Bosnia will be an immediate focus after the election.

Mr Clinton had promised that they would be withdrawn after a year and that deadline expires next month. Yet a US military presence is now more necessary than ever. A new mandate for a reduced force will he a top priority but a Republican Congress would lay down tough conditions before giving Mr Clinton the green light.

Russia is troublesome for Mr Clinton on two fronts. Mr Yeltsin's health and Moscow's reluctance to accept the expansion of NATO to which the US is committed. Mr Clinton has now laid down 1999 as the date for the first enlargement of NATO to include former Soviet satellite countries like Poland. Hungary and the Czech Republic. Much careful diplomacy with Moscow will be necessary before the crucial NATO summit next spring to give final approval to expansion.

In domestic policy. Mr Clinton has lots of "small bore" proposals as they are dubbed, but so far not much grand vision. With his commitment to having a balanced budget by 2000. Mr Clinton will find little opportunity to revert to "liberal" - meaning costly Democratic programmes.

But there will be pressure from the labour unions for more job creation and higher wages with reminders about how their strategy of targeting vulnerable Republican Congressmen with union funds contributed to Democratic successes.

MR Clinton has already committed himself to correcting the harsher elements in the welfare reform Bill he signed last August against the strong opposition of the liberal wing of the Democrats including senators Ted Kennedy, Daniel Moynihan and Chris Dodd. But while Mr Clinton will push to remove the measures depriving even legal immigrants of welfare benefits, this may not be possible if Republicans keep control of Congress.

The reform of election campaign financing became a hot issue in the closing stages of this campaign as the Democrats were forced to admit to serious abuses of the present system. Both parties had paid lip service to reforming the more blatant abuses but a modest reform Bill in the outgoing Congress had been filibustered in the Senate by the Republicans.

Now that Mr Clinton has no more elections to fight, the reforms he hastily promised will have no impact on his political future but it would fit into his plans to be a more non partisan president than in his first term. He may even invite some Republicans to serve in his Cabinet such as Gen Colin Powell.

Free from the constraints of any more electioneering, the next four years in the White House open up great possibilities for an ambitious president while the shadow of unresolved scandals will be an ominous backdrop.

The New York Times, in an editorial endorsing Mr Clinton, but urging greater integrity, predicted that "by adding self discipline to vision, he can build on the achievements he has already made and make a fair bid to leave Washington in 2001 as one of the notable presidents of the 20th century".