The Spy Who Came in From the Cold & the Adviser Who Came in for Some Heat

National Journal: The Hotline, Blogometer

If the Blogometer swore off publishing speculation, then we wouldn’t have much to write about today. Indeed, it is almost all speculation today. On the left and right, interested observers are poring over transcripts, interviews, books, plus newspaper and magazine articles both new and old, looking for a new angle that may help illuminate the truth behind the ongoing investigation and explain what it all means. Here are just a few of the theories to surface, either for the 1st time or with renewed significance, in recent days:

• WH dep. CoS Karl Rove could face espionage charges rather than mere indictment under intelligence protection statues.

• Ex-Amb. Joe Wilson may have leaked wife Valerie Plame’s role in his Niger trip to friends in the Washington press.

• New York Times’ Judy Miller may have leaked the Wilson/Plame gossip to the WH.

• Or, Miller and the Times may be protecting another source, one unsympathetic to the WH.

• Ex-WH spokesperson Ari Fleischer may have leaked Plame’s name. All are covered below, plus a greatly diminished number of other news, a report on Rep. Louise Slaughter’s (D-NY) blogad campaign — and, our latest Blogger Spotlight.

    POLITICAL MONEY BLOG: UNDER THE PINK

    With a hat tip to PoliticalMoneyLine and Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, we present our 2nd report on political blog advertising:

    Yesterday the Blogometer spoke to ex-Dean staffer/Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) manager Karl Frisch about Slaughter’s “Send Karl Rove His Pink Slip!” Blogad campaign. When readers click on the blogad, they are taken to a page on Slaughter’s official re-elect site, VoteLouise.com. The campaign asks interested readers to sign a petition and fill in their own reason why Rove should be fired.

    Frisch said the campaign is aiming for 100K participants and will keep it online as long as it needs to do so — perhaps longer if the goal is met quickly. Required fields include 1st and last names, e-mail address and zip code, but one needn’t give a reason why Rove should be fired. Online petitions raise awareness for a subject the sponsor cares about, and also builds an e-mail list for future use.

    Through the campaign, Frisch bought 42 out of the 74 adstrips from BlogAds’ Advertise Liberally network, mostly on blogs with high traffic and those he knew from having read blogs for a few years. As of about 10:30 a.m. this morning, Frisch reported 17,709 petitions had been signed.

    Another note: Slaughter’s re-election website is surprisingly complete and active for a rep. with a clear path to re-election. In addition to the blog and the Rove campaign, she even has profiles on Friendster and MySpace. Frisch wouldn’t take credit for the decision, saying only that Slaughter wants to be involved at every level of the Internet — but the Blogometer isn’t currently aware of any other members of Congress with a page on MySpace, nor one who claims “South Park” as a favorite TV show.

    July 14, 2005 | Filed Under News Mentions, Slaughter 

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