The indictment of a top White House aide has left Washington asking the classic second-term question: Can a struggling president make a comeback?

George W. Bush has more than three years to go, and a big agenda.

For now, though, attention is riveted on the political body blow he sustained last Friday: the five-count indictment in the CIA leak case that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald laid out against I. Lewis Libby. With that, "Scooter" Libby takes his place in the gallery of powerful Washington figures throughout history who have landed in legal jeopardy.

Mr. Libby, who resigned as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, may not be found guilty of any of the counts: one for obstruction of justice, two for perjury, and two for making false statements to FBI agents. But his case stains an administration that came to office promising to restore honor and integrity to the White House. The indictment also came during the week in which the 2,000th American died in Iraq - in a case that has fanned the controversy over the administration's rationale for the 2003 invasion.

The news from Mr. Fitzgerald could have been worse. President Bush's political right-hand man, Karl Rove, had been informed he may be indicted, but wasn't. Still, he's not out of the woods yet. Fitzgerald's investigation into the allegedly unauthorized exposure of a CIA agent's identity continues. At his press conference Friday, the special counsel said the "substantial bulk" of the inquiry is finished, though it is unclear where the probe may yet lead.

What is clear is that Washington has its newest example of the old saw, "It's not the crime, it's the coverup." The five counts Libby faces all center on actions that Fitzgerald says interfered with the investigation, not on the core question - whether Libby took part in the "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

"It is a big message to Washington officials that if you only would come clean you would probably be OK," says Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University.

Still, legal scholars agreed with Fitzgerald that the charges returned by the grand jury are serious - and Republicans needed look no further than their own statements during President Clinton's legal travails to be reminded about the seriousness of lying under oath.

"It is a felony; anybody who is facing these kind of charges is in trouble," says Paul Butler, a law professor at George Washington University and former federal prosecutor.

For the five counts, Libby faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines, though if found guilty, he would probably face a lesser punishment, from probation or house arrest to five years in prison and a fine, legal analysts say. Libby could also avoid a trial by making a plea bargain, but analysts don't see that as likely.

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