In Washington in the 1990s, it was a sure bet that whenever conservative journalists and activists got together, the conversation turned to the Clintons, Kenneth Starr, and the Whitewater investigation. There was a good bit of what one editor memorably called “hush-hush and heavy breathing” when insiders discussed momentous developments that were surely on the way. Somebody knew somebody who had heard from somebody close to Starr that big indictments were imminent — just around the corner.

The big indictments were just around the corner in 1995, in 1996, in 1997. They didn’t come. Then, in 1998, the Lewinsky scandal seemed to fall into the laps of anti-Clinton types. But even as the scandal rolled toward impeachment, some on the right still looked for indictments in the matters that had raised Republican hopes over the years: Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, the Rose Law Firm billing records, the death of Vincent Foster, and more.