HIGH POINTS

HAIL AND FAREWELL: At a press conference to announce that he would not run for President, General Colin Powell showed why he could have been a contender. "Have I added a new dimension to the race?" he asked. "I think I have." Including nostalgia for a campaign that never was--this time.

DECENCY ALERT I: After the Oklahoma City bombing, Clinton made a speech urging America to tone it down. A politically motivated jab at the right? No doubt. A point worth making? That too.

DECENCY ALERT II: In a blistering speech in Los Angeles, Dole offered much the same message to the movie and record industry. A politically motivated bow to the right? Of course. A point worth making? That too.

THE TAKING-VOTERS-AT-THEIR-WORD AWARD: Republicans submitted their first Medicare plan, calling for slower growth in benefits. Whatever one might think of their numbers, it took courage to put the issue on the nation's agenda.

NO SUCK-UP HERE: First-term House Republican Linda Smith bucked her leaders by pushing in vain for radical campaign-finance reform that would have banned pac money and out-of-state contributions. As she said, "You can't perform surgery in a dirty operating room and with a team that hasn't scrubbed." LOW POINTS THE SUCKER AWARD: Republican presidential hopefuls rushed to genuflect at the Dallas conclave summoned by Ross Perot. Six weeks later, Perot announced the formation of an independent party.

THE OPRAH AWARD: Representative Enid Waldholtz said she trusted husband Joe with her money "because I was weary of always being the strong one." In return, she said, he stole a fortune, broke campaign laws and got her to sign a phony document while she was doped up on postpartum painkillers.

GINGRICH GOES STRATOSPHERIC: The loud Speaker threw a tantrum about being seated in the rear of Air Force One on the way home from the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin. David Letterman said Clinton tried to explain to Gingrich that it "was just to balance the weight." A Republican asked on the House floor, "Is it parliamentary to call the Speaker of the House a crybaby?" To appease Gingrich, White House press secretary Mike McCurry offered him the special M&Ms from the presidential plane.

GOOD HAIR DAY: As a prelude to his resignation under fire for sexual harassment and favor seeking, Senator Bob Packwood's diaries were published. They portray a man consumed by fund raising and swayed by lobbyists. The nation also learned that by combing his hair without gel, Packwood got "just the right amount of wave and bounce."

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT: Clinton told a $1,000-a-plate crowd that he raised their taxes too much, in part blaming congressional Democrats for a 1993 tax hike that he twisted their arms to get.