With all the attention focussed on the White House and the DOJ’s investigation thereof vis a vis the Plame affair, one basic avenue appears essentially unexplored: why not go to Bob Novak himself and insist that he disclose his source? Journalists are subpoenaed every day to participate in trials and investigations, with varying degrees of success. There’s certainly a stance that suggests that pursuing Novak would be inappropriate and contrary to our free press, but, as Mark Dowie points out in Salon, there is little doubt what Ashcroft’s DOJ might have done had Novak been a partisan columnist for that other party.