Bob Novak's Defense of His Column Claiming the Clinton Forces Have Scandalous Information About Obama But Aren't Using It

    We wrote Saturday about  Robert Novak's column that the Clinton forces have scandalous information about Barack Obama and have decided not to use it. A big mystery, we suggested, is why the story would come out now -- given that its timing actually hurts Clinton.
    An interview with Novak this morning on Fox News defending the column may explain this "mystery." Novak says his sources were prominent neutral Democrats, who had been told this information by someone involved in the Clinton campaign. So here's a guess: When the Clinton forces started panicking after her poor debate performance at the end of October, someone went to some prominent Democrats and started mentioning they had this information.
    Given all this, it certainly doesn't make the Clinton campaign look particularly good (even Novak called it Nixonian) and it certainly makes their denial Saturday they had anything to do with this sound a bit hollow. The guess here is that the Novak interview today allows the story to persist, if only because Obama may sense an opening and keep pushing the dirty campaigning angle as he did Saturday.


    SEE THIS TOTE BOARD POST FOR THE UPDATED LATEST ON THIS STORY.