Rove Is Spared -- for Now

As recently as Tuesday, for example, prosecutors began to focus on a 2003 e-mail exchange between Rove and a White House colleague. The exchange could be seen as supporting Rove's contention that he had not intentionally misled investigators.

Lawyers familiar with the case believe these e-mails were one element of a broad, eleventh-hour review of evidence -- coupled with negotiations by Rove's lawyers -- that led Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald not to include him in Friday's action.

"In the normal back-and-forth between prosecutor and defense attorneys, some issues were raised that made the prosecutor step back and have pause for thought as far as his future activities," a source close to Rove said. "He thought, 'This is enough for me to hold off making decisions.' "

Friday's announcement that Fitzgerald would charge I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, while withholding judgment on others -- including Rove -- was greeted as a positive sign by Rove's close associates, amid lingering concerns that he could yet face prosecution.

Senior Republican strategists had feared a debilitating and embarrassing blow to President Bush if Rove were charged with a crime and forced to resign. After all, he is far more than a senior White House official or political insider. Rove is widely seen as the political mastermind behind Bush's ascent to the White House and the chief architect of White House political strategy ever since.

Fitzgerald, by extending his investigation beyond the Friday expiration date of the grand jury, could still decide to charge Rove, as well as other administration officials.

But for now, Rove appeared to live up to the nickname bestowed upon him by Bush: "Turdblossom," a moniker that spoke to the strategist's uncanny pattern of surviving unpleasant situations, and sometimes seeming to thrive on them.