Whitewater and related issues like an investigation of a failed Arkansas savings and loan association have become the White House's greatest political threat.

Ms. Lewis said that she encountered resistance at all turns as she looked into the dealings of a failed Arkansas savings and loan association.

There are, for example, numerous regulatory issues involving the failed Arkansas savings and loan, Madison Guaranty.

The failure of an Arkansas savings and loan owned by a former business partner of President Clinton will be investigated.

The Clintons were partners in Whitewater with the proprietor of a failed Arkansas savings institution.

The institution planned to issue preferred stock, the sale of which had rarely, if ever, been attempted by an Arkansas savings and loan.

There matters stood until articles began to appear saying that the Justice Department had revived its investigation into the collapse of the Arkansas savings and loan.

The banking issue arises from the 1989 collapse of Madison Guaranty, an Arkansas savings and loan.

The people who were treating the Arkansas savings and loan like a personal nest egg were pikers.

The trust corporation, which is independent, began investigating the Arkansas savings and loan, Madison Guaranty, in 1992 after news accounts of Whitewater first appeared.