Last March, Bill O'Reilly declared: "There isn't one conservative commentator on CNN. Not one." At the time, Media Matters corrected Bill, pointing to Robert Novak as their primary example.

But Friday's news that Novak's contract with CNN is not being renewed raises a legitimate question: Does CNN have any conservative counterweights to pundits like James Carville and Paul Begala on the payroll?

"In defense of Novak, the brass at CNN never understood what Novak meant to the network during the ascent of Fox," Mark Shields told the Wash. Post. "When CNN was branded the Clinton News Network...Novak gave them their true-blue conservative credentials. He was the antidote, the rebuttal to that charge."

An e-mailer said yesterday: "Will the last conservative at CNN please turn off the lights?"