Deep Throat: Let the games begin

For thirty years participants, journalists and buffs have been trying to figure out who Deep Throat was. The combed through All the President's Men line by line looking for telling bits that pointed to one suspect or excluded another. Now Mark Felt has seemingly owned up to being the most famous anonymous source in history.

Which really doesn't close the book on the thing. Look for a flood of new information from all corners. The unifying theme-- the lies, red herrings, and discrepancies in the Woodstein account. Was Felt in Washington on all the days Woodward claims they met? Was he really a heavy smoker? Did he have a relationship with Woodward before Watergate?

Some "revelations" will be trivial; others flat wrong. But some will add to our understanding of Watergate.

Right now, i wonder about the Woodward's claim that he and Deep Throat had a relationship that pre-dated Watergate. If Felt had no such relationship (as Len Colodny stated on MSNBC on Tuesday) then that is important. It may be that Woodward was just burnishing his reportorial credentials. It can also be read as evidence that Woodward was trying to hide Felt's motive for the first leaks (spite over the Gray appointment.)

I also wonder what the Post's coverage of Felt's own legal troubles looked like. Any evidence that they pulled their punches? Did Woodward or Bernstein provide any of the reporting?