Your Guide To Bob Novak's Sources

In his 650-page memoir, report-cum-columnist Bob Novak recounts the stories that made him famous. And he reveals dozens of sources, deliberately, having sought and received permission from his formerly secret contacts to go public for the sake of history.

Many of the sources are no longer active in politics and some are dead. But a good dozen are still forces, and it’s going to be tempting to read future Novak columns in light of his disclosures about the following:

Sen. Trent Lott – wonder where those anti-John Weaver columns came from? Sen. Lott is an often-used source for Novak.

Karl Rove – The public record in the Plame case aside, Rove is Novak’s chief White House source.

Vin Weber – this ex-Rep and current WH adviser also advises Mitt Romney.

Bill Daley -- The former Clinton commerce secretary, Gore campaign chairman and Chicago grandee is one of Novak’s best Democratic sources. Mr. Daley right now is a top adviser to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, so one would assume that Novak’s Obama scoops are – at the very least – run by Mr. Daley for confirmation. Check out page 450 of the book, where Daley gives Novak a blind quote about the 1988 Democratic convention, which featured a raucous speech by Jesse Jackson: “For those who watched television, what they saw looked like a black party.” The quote was attributed to a “Midwestern” Democrat. Novak writes that Daley “feared that the disasterous candidacies of George McGovern, Fritz Mondale and now Mike Dukakis posed a bleak future for traditional Democrats.”

Does Novak have a source in Hillary land? Ex-MI Gov. James Blanchard may be one, but it’s not clear from Novak’s text.

Bob Shrum – Novak admits that Shrum is a very regular, very good source.

John Sununu – the former WH CoS. What does he know about Fred Thompson’s alleged lobbying for an abortion rights group?

9/11 commission member/ex-Navy sec. John Lehman – a regular source on arms control matters in the 1980s

Richard Perle – a big Novak source in the 80s; their relationship soured after the War in Iraq

David Stockman – a great Novak source until Stockman revealed all to the Atlantic in 1982.

Henry Kissinger – he was an occasional Novak source in the Nixon administration and remains a Novak source today.

John Negroponte – the former DNI is a Novak source. Or was, in the 1980s.

Carl Cameron – an enthusiastic young Cameron helped Novak wade through the late-in-the-campaign disclosure that George W. Bush had been arrested for drunk driving.

Ex-Sec/def/Sen. William Cohen – called a “longtime” source. Cohen is still a highly-regarded voice of wisdom on defense issues and is well-connected.

Other revealed sources: Lee Atwater, Don Rumsfeld, ex-Sec/Def. Mel Laird (called one of Novak’s best sources EVER), American diplomat John Paul Vann, ex-Texas l.g. Ben Barnes, ex-FBI dir. William Ruckelshaus, Sen. Scoop Jackson, ex-Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, Cox press secretary James Doyle, ex-Sen. Al Gore Sr., ex-Reagan mgr. John Sears, Dem pollster Pat Caddell, “homosexual” Alan Baron, ex-Sec/Treas. Paul O’Neill, ex-Reagan adviser Stu Spencer, curve economist Art Laffer, Ex-Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, David Gergen, James Baker, Pat Buchanan, Carlyle Group partner David Rubenstein, ex-Treasury aide Manuel Johnson, ex-Reagan cabinet secretary Alfred Kingon, conservative activists Dan Devine and David Keene, ex-Sen. Bob Bennett, Rep. Dan Lungren,

Interestingly, nowhere does Novak write about Steny Hoyer; the Dems majority leader in the House is assumed by many to be Novak’s chief source among Congressional Democrats.

Who’s the “best source” Novak “ever had?” – conservative activist John Carbaugh, a former aide to Jesse Helms and a general fixer for right-wing causes.