In a stunning turn of events, the Republican Party that initiated the impeachment came apart at the moment of reckoning. President Clinton got a Valentine's Day gift from 10 Republican Senators who chose to break away from the party and voted `Not Guilty' on the first article of impeachment relating to perjury. Five of them also voted `Not Guilty' on the second article of impeachment relating to obstruction of justice.

As a result, the Republicans not only failed to muster the 67 votes -- a two-thirds majority -- needed to convict the President and remove him from office but could even reach a face saving simplemajority.

They lost the first vote 45-55 and were tied 50-50 in the second vote. All 45 Democratic Senators stayed solidly behind the President on both counts, voting `Not Guilty'. The defecting Senators were mostly moderate Republicans from the East Coast and West Coast who disagreed strongly with their hardline Congressional colleagues from the House of Representatives.

Olympia Snowe, a Republican Senator from Maine, seemed to capture the essence of their disagreement when she said that President Clinton could be held guilty in a court of law for his offences but it did not meet the benchmark of high crimes and misdemeanors needed to remove him from office.The President, who his aides said did not watch the televised finale of the trial, is expected to make a statement on the subject later in the day.

Despite the acquittal, pundits say he will avoid gloating or what one commentator called ``high-fives'' and ``misdemeanors''. He is expected to once again repent for his mistakes and seek to take thecountry back to business. Back in the Senate, attempts by some law-makers to move a resolution to censure the President was blocked by others who felt the constitution empowered the chamber only to pronounce a guilty or not guilty verdict. The Senate trial concluded after more than a year of high drama that began last January with the disclosure of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. In course of a turbulent year, that episode and its fallout has virtually changed the political landscape and moral compass of the world's premier nation.