MAKING HIS LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE

Patrick Fitzgerald is known for his thoroughness. The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday evening affirmed that perception, reporting that the special prosecutor's legmen are doing what appears to be a final round of interviews -- most centering on the question: Was Valerie Plame's CIA identity a secret before it was leaked to the media?

From LAT:

Fitzgerald has returned his attention to White House adviser Karl Rove, interviewing a Rove colleague with detailed questions about contacts that President Bush's close aide had with reporters in the days leading up to the outing of a covert CIA officer.

Fitzgerald has also dispatched FBI agents to comb the CIA agent's residential neighborhood in Washington, asking neighbors again whether they were aware — before her name appeared in a syndicated column — that the agent, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA.

The questioning, described by lawyers familiar with the case and by the neighbors, occurred as Fitzgerald was thought to be readying indictments in the long-running inquiry into the leak of Plame's identity. It is a felony to knowingly identify an undercover agent, and the renewed questions this week suggested that the prosecutor remained focused on the breach of that secrecy.

The inquiry has reached deep into the White House and focuses on Rove and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.

A deputy prosecutor called Rove's colleague this afternoon and interviewed him in depth about statements Rove may have made to reporters about the case, a lawyer familiar with the case said.

"It appeared to me the prosecutor was trying to button up any holes that were remaining," the lawyer said.

Steve Clemons, a plugged-in sorta guy, says over at The Washington Note that his "uber-secret source" predicts:

1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end.

2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters.

3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and "filed" tomorrow.

4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.

Up to five indictments -- we assume that means people, not charges, because each person will likely be charged with multiple counts. Rove, Libby, Hadley, Wurmser -- and Cheney?