Congress Mum on Lewinsky

Meeting with congressional Democrats Wednesday, President Clinton tended to the party's legislative agenda while bedrock party loyalists in Hispanic and black communities said they're not concerned about his upcoming testimony in the Monica Lewinsky investigation.

"We're not fair-weathered friends. We will be with you to the end," Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told Mr. Clinton, whose appearance Tuesday night at her fund-raising reception of mostly black activists raised $300,000 for House Democratic candidates.

Our Full Coverage of this Ongoing Story

First thing Wednesday morning, the president and a small army of top-level administration officials (four limousines full) went to Capitol Hill to meet privately for 90 minutes with the House Democratic caucus.

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt said the Lewinsky case did not come up.

"In my district," he said, "voters say, 'When are you going to stop all the investigations and start dealing with my problems - Medicare, Social Security, environment?'"

Another Democratic leader, Vic Fazio of California, says the Lewinsky matter wasn't on the agenda because constituents don't care about it. The "very positive and upbeat" session focused on "issues we think the American people care about," he said.

In less than two weeks, Mr. Clinton will testify in the Lewinsky investigation.

Concerning evidence Lewinsky turned over to prosecutors last week, CBS News has learned that in addition to a dress and answering machine tapes, Lewinsky also gave investigators a photograph.

CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante reports that the photograph is one of dozens taken of the president and Lewinsky, but it is unique and of interest to investigators. Sources say the photo carries a personal inscription that Lewinsky says was written by Mr. Clinton.

The inscription is said to be very personal. Lewinsky concealed the picture from an FBI search, along with the dress and the answering machine tapes.

As for the dress, CBS News has learned that the FBI has completed its first tests in search of DNA evidence of a sexual encounter. The results were not forwarded to prosecutors because the lab always intended to go on to a more exacting test. Those results could be reay on Wednesday.

Prosecutors are waiting for a report before they ask the president for a voluntary blood or saliva sample for comparison. The FBI is also analyzing the dress for hair and fiber evidence.