President Clinton's approval ratings soared to new heights as Americans outside Washington indicated they believe the media is devoting far too much attention to the alleged sex and perjury scandal.
A CBS poll showed 73 per cent of the public approve of his performance as president following the State of the Union address on Tuesday. This is up from 57 per cent on Monday and his highest rating ever.
Even more encouraging for Mr Clinton was the finding that for the first time a majority of Republican voters (52 per cent) were satisfied with the Democratic president.
But Mr Clinton's troubles are not yet over. Ms Linda Tripp, who taped conversations with Ms Monica Lewinsky where she speaks of her affair with the president, has broken her silence in a two-page statement.
Ms Tripp says that she went to the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, with the tapes because she was "being solicited to participate in a plan to conceal and cover up the true nature of the relationship between Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton.
"Monica described every detail of the relationship during hundreds of hours of conversations over the past 15 months. In addition I was present when she received a late-night phone call from the president," Ms Tripp said.
She went on: "I have also seen numerous gifts they exchanged and heard several of her tapes of him. I was also present when Monica made and received numerous phone calls which were of a volatile and contentious nature directly relating to her relationship with the president."
Ms Tripp described Ms Lewinsky as a "bright, caring, generous soul - one who has made poor choices. She was not a stalker, she was invited; she did not embellish, the truth is sensational enough."
Lawyers for the president have welcomed a decision by the judge in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case to bar her lawyers from collecting more testimony from Ms Lewinsky to further their case. But the decision is also seen as advantageous to the independent counsel, Mr Starr. He had asked the judge to halt the Jones lawyers from collecting evidence as it was interfering with his investigation into perjury allegations against Mr Clinton based on what Ms Lewinsky told Ms Tripp.
Ms Lewinsky's attorney, Mr William Ginsburg, has still not reached agreement with Mr Starr over her request for total immunity in return for testifying against the president. Mr Ginsburg says he is now preparing a defence for Ms Lewinsky against an eventual indictment for perjury.
She is reported to have fled Washington, where she has been under siege from the media in her Watergate apartment, to Los Angeles, where her father lives.
The president has also escaped Washington for a quiet weekend at Camp David.
Reuters adds from Brasilia: President Clinton's alleged affair with a former White House intern may have shocked US public opinion, but to Brazil's self-declared macho men, he is a hero.
The Macho Movement of Minas Gerais state has named Mr Clinton its man of the year. "Over the past year, no one has done as much as Bill Clinton to honour the traditions of machismo," said Luiz Mario Ladeira, president of the group.