Murray tells how the Novak-Rove called occurred:

Both Novak and Rove have told federal prosecutors that it was Novak who raised Plame's name, with the columnist saying he had heard that "Wilson's wife" had worked for the CIA and had been responsible for having her husband sent on the Niger mission.

"I heard that too," Rove responded, according to published accounts of what Rove told federal investigators of the conversations. Novak's version of what was said has been slightly different. He reportedly has told investigators that Rove's response was something to the effect of, "Oh, you know about it."

This suggests to me that Rove and Novak are on the same page with Fitz.

Waas continues, reporting that Libby and Rove often would be at cross-purposes when their agendas differed.

Libby's opposition to Townsend was so intense that he asked at least two other people in the White House to obtain her personnel records. These records showed that she had been turned down for two lesser positions in the Bush administration because of her political leanings, according to accounts provided by current and former administration officials. Libby also spoke about leaking the material to journalists or key staffers or members on Capitol Hill, to possibly undercut Townsend, according to the same accounts.

In other words, Murray's sources are saying that it's almost standard operating procedure for Libby to seek personel records and trash a person's reputation when he (or his boss Cheney) oppose someone. The inference we're to make is that it was Libby who was behind the campaign to discredit Valerie Plame Wilson, not Karl Rove.

Then there is this stab at Libby, drawing another comparison in the Townsend and Plame campaigns:

And Libby suggested both inside and outside the White House that Townsend was being considered as a national security adviser to the president because her husband had been a classmate of George W. Bush's at Andover and Yale.

Does Karl Rove fight dirty or what?

As to Valerie Plame, Waas writes:

But on the issue of Valerie Plame, prosecutors have been unable to determine whether in fact Novak was the one who first broached the subject, and whether Rove simply confirmed something that Novak already knew. Sources close to the investigation say this uncertainty is one of the foremost reasons Fitzgerald has not decided yet whether to bring criminal charges against Rove.

....Fitzgerald is said to be continuing his investigation into whether Rove made false statements, committed perjury, and obstructed justice. The investigation is focused on Rove's apparent failure to disclose his conversation with Cooper in his first interview with the FBI in October 2003 or in his first appearance before the grand jury in February 2004.

The New York Times put the date of Rove and Novak's conversation at July 8, 2003. Murray reports it is July 9. Who else would know that besides Team Rove or Novak? Only Fitz and he's not talking.

Meanwhile, Jane reports Fitz may be back at the grand jury today.

Update: Crooks and Liars weighs in on Waas's latest, as does Reddhedd. Also, I've modified some of my first impressions about what the article means.

Update: Digby makes a great point about Novak's reportedly saying Rove would be happy with one article and unhappy with the other. In the context of the article, Rove would be unhappy with the Townsend article and happy with the Plame article. If Rove didn't know about Plame or a plan to discredit Wilson through a spousal nepotism charge, then one would expect at a minimum that Novak's original article would at least be critical of Wilson.

In order to understand why this is significant, you have to go back and look at the column in which Novak outs Plame. It quite mildly states that the Vice President didn't send Wilson (which Wilson had never claimed) but it is not particularly critical of Wilson --- the man with whom both Rove and Libby are reported to have been obsessed. In fact, it is surprisingly complimentary.

If Novak told Rove that he would be happy with that column there can be only one reason ---- Plame.