Over at the Village Voice, Sydney H. Schanberg picks up on something that we were griping about a few weeks back: Bob Novak's upcoming slippery "exclusive" forum with newsmakers. It only costs $595 to attend and you get great access to top administration and government officials, but there are some rather strict rules: Primarily, no reporters.

As Schanberg asks, "Those certainly don't sound like requirements laid down by a journalist. Is Novak really a reporter?"

As we argued a month ago: Good reporters don't sell access.

One wonders though: If there are only 70 slots, and Novak's email is still out there offering slots, is interest fading in the Novak forums? Is he too much of a hot potato this year?