MISSOURI REACTIONS MIXED ON THE VOTE

The fact that the president of the United States was being impeached didn't deter Christmas shoppers Saturday at busy West Park Mall.

The consensus of people who were asked whether President Bill Clinton should now resign was no.

"He has already asked for forgiveness. He did wrong," said Ella Mae Robinson, 63, of Sikeston. "If we can't forgive him, the Lord will not forgive us."

Louie Seiberlich, 47, of Park Hills is no Clinton supporter but agrees that the president shouldn't resign. "I'm not sure it would do any good," he said, suggesting that weakening the president might be preferable to Republicans with confrontations looming on Social Security and Medicare.

John Siebert, 52, of Chaffee doesn't think the president should resign. "I think most people don't care about it," he said. "The economy is what people care about."

Steven Trussell, a 23-year-old bell ringer for the Salvation Army, thinks the deeds that led to Clinton's impeachment were blown out of proportion. The Cape Girardeau resident concurs that the president shouldn't resign.

"He has done a decent job in office... I don't think this has anything to do with the way he has run the country."

The president should not have been impeached while the United States is attacking Iraq, Robinson said. "We're going to have a lot of problems. We're trying to fight a war and there's all this pressure on him."

Most thought the impeachment was just partisan politics. "They always want to have their way," Robinson said.

Seiberlich was an exception.

"I think it's historic. It's more historic because the media is reporting it better than it has in the past. We're more aware of what is happening."

Some thought the House of Representatives defied the will of the American people by voting to impeach President Clinton.

Robinson doesn't think the U.S. Senate should even have the power to remove him from office. "The people put him in there. It should be a vote of the people whether to vote him out or not," she said.

Seiberlich thinks the House did the right thing.

"They represent the people. At the same time, they have to represent their consciences. They're closer to what's going on than what we know," he said.

The impeachment vote should not have been delayed because of the bombing in Iraq, Seiberlich said. "These folks are fighting to uphold the Constitution. Apparently the president feels he's beyond the Constitution as far as perjury is concerned."

Most of those asked said they can't predict whether the Senate will remove Clinton from office. Seiberlich thinks he will be censured instead. "Everybody will be happy then," he said.

In Columbia Saturday, Dean Reichold thought maybe the name of his street - Clinton Drive - should be changed.

"It's been a great home to live in, but it's a nauseating name for a street," said Reichold, who has voted for both Democrats and Republicans but never for Clinton. "I think the guy is guilty of a lot more than he's being accused of."

Neighbor Cynthia McLaughlin, who has lived on Clinton Drive for 14 years, was distraught about the impeachment vote as she hammered nails to put her Christmas lights on.

"I think it was very partisan," said the 45-year-old copy writer and Democrat. "They wanted him out, this was the handy ticket, nothing else would do."

Clinton received 65 percent of the vote in 1996 in the Clinton Drive precinct, located in the western part of Columbia.

For 13-year-old Stephanie Gibbs, who was playing with her dog, Xena, on Clinton Drive, impeachment was the best way to punish the president for his mistakes.

"His wife hates him, his daughter is probably mad at him and he lost a lot of respect," Stephanie said. "He shouldn't have lied. I don't think he's a bad president but I just don't think he's the greatest person in the world."

Frank Karpowecz, 33, a help-line operator who was shopping at the Capital Mall in Jefferson City, said he didn't feel the impeachment vote was partisan, which brought a response from passerby Jay Roark of Lake of the Ozarks.

"How can you say it isn't partisan when Democrats are saying give us one more option, and they won't let it come to the floor," said Roark, referring to the failed Democratic attempt to censure the president.

"But a lot of Democrats have gone to the other side," shot back Karpowecz, who backed Clinton in 1992 and 1996 but said he regrets the decision now.

Associated Press writer Paul Sloca contributed to this report.