The public learned last week just how badly Gov. George Bush wanted to keep this campaign and his political party away from the continued investigation of the Monica Lewinsky affair when his communications director lamented the press announcement on the day of Vice President Al Gore’s acceptance speech that independent counsel Robert Ray had impaneled a new grand jury.

“We think the timing was wrong,” said Karen P. Hughes. “It was simply not appropriate for this type of news to come out on Al Gore’s big day.” Unfortunately, that is all the public is likely to learn in an inquiry that is nearly three years running and has tried the patience of all but those with a deep dislike for President Clinton.

That President Clinton lied under oath about his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky is clear. That Kenneth Starr presented the excruciating and embarrassing details of how badly the president behaved was almost too clear. That Congress then held its own trial by fire – suffering partial self-immolation in the process – is painfully clear to Republicans, who went out of their way to downplay the news about the Ray investigation.

What’s left? Can prosecutors still use discretion when deciding whether to indict? Certainly. Are people regularly hauled up before a judge when they try and fail in court to hide extramarital affairs? Apparently not. Why is this prosecutor so determined to press on with this endless case? Hard to say exactly, but it may have something to do with an endless budget ($50 million spent so far) and the endless number of people who would love to see Mr. Clinton, the first of this group to play with fire, get the Prometheus treatment.

Congressional Republicans, to their credit, seemed to have learned from the last go-round. None expressed enthusiasm for the potential of another trial, which, given the pace of the court system and the legal maneuvers open a Clinton defense, could conclude just before the mid-term elections of the next administration. The GOP, of course, suffered far more than the Democrats the last time voters had the chance to express its opinion of how this issue had been handled.

It isn’t clear who leaked the information about the grand jury or when it was leaked, but it hardly matters. A lengthy impeachment trial and vote that will remain part of American history already have punished the president. The public has had at its disposal for more than a year the details of his misdeeds. Both political parties would watch such a trial arrive with trepidation.

Not justice, not the public, not politics. Who or what does a continued investigation serve?