WASHINGTON - White House political director Karl Rove was identified yesterday as the shadowy official who blew the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Rove, dubbed "Bush's Brain" for his political genius, was not indicted for his role in the leak and subsequent coverup.

Instead, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicted Vice President Cheney's chief of staff Lewis (Scooter) Libby on five counts of lying to federal officials and a grand jury.

The closest Fitzgerald came to identifying the leaker is a press release that says "senior White House official ('Official A')" gave Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak, who promptly printed it.

At a news conference, Fitzgerald declined to name "Official A," but several sources close to the case told the Daily News it was Rove.

If this is true and Rove did tell Novak about Plame then why wasn't Rove's name announced yesterday as being charged in addition to Libby?

Could it be because Plame wasn't really covert? And therefore "leaking" her name wasn't exactly a crime but rather a perfectly acceptable response to a mistrustful smear campaign launched by her and her husband?

That would be my guess.