Clinton's Dress Rehearsal

Let the countdowns begin. Sometime this week, Monica Lewinsky is likely to begin talking the talk in front of Ken Starr's grand jury. Two weeks from now, on August 17, President Clinton will deliver his own sworn testimony, live via closed-circuit television from the White House; an event that, aides say, he is prepping for daily with the diligence of a student before a big exam. And in the next few days, the FBI crime lab should be completing its initial tests on That Dress -- which turns out to be a dark blue, high-necked item from the Gap, lately owned by Ms. Lewinsky -- to determine if it contains the kind of DNA evidence that the former intern claims it does.

That question, and little else, dominated the Sunday talk shows. Even the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee got in on the dress debate: "If the tests are positive," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) "then the next question is, will the President submit to giving samples so they can match the DNAs if they are matchable?" Test results notwithstanding, Hatch led the chorus of calls for Clinton to make a televised mea culpa on the Lewinsky affair and even offered to "be there to try to help him if he will." Even assuming he has something to repent, however, Clinton is far more likely to gamble on widespread public exhaustion with the case. "There's no appetite for impeachment either in Congress or the country," TIME deputy Washington bureau chief Jef McAllister told CNN. "I would essentially dare him to have the Congress follow him into his bedroom."