The Deep Throat debate rages on! An article in the Chicago Tribune (it requires registration to view the article so I haven't linked to it) reports that a journalism class at the University of Illinois has concluded that Deep Throat is none other than...Pat Buchanan?!

They apparently looked at a lot of FBI records and talked to members of the Nixon administration, and they also got an original manuscript of All the President's Men which may have held some clues -- specifically, one passage that was not in the printed edition "characterized Deep Throat as 'in a position to possibly understand the whole scheme and not be a potential conspirator.' [the] students interpreted that as meaning Deep Throat was a speechwriter or publicist rather than an official with a staff and policy-making responsibilities."

I think this could just have easily been interpreted as meaning Deep Throat wasn't actually in the White House, which points a finger towards the officials in the FBI who were implicated by James Mann in his article that sparked our interest in the subject in the first place.

According to the article, Buchanan's motive was that he was angry at Nixon for the China opening. This strikes me as the flimsiest motive I can think of, since Buchanan has a reputation for loyalty and, in my opinion, wouldn't have been so eager to work with the liberal Washington Post. It is also questionable, in my view, how much a speechwriter would really know about the whole scheme, since Nixon was so secretive.

I was, of course, elated to read that "there have been many guesses including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger." Apparently my theory is gaining ground.

But, the best news of all is that these students won't have to wait long to see if their theory is correct. Former White House counsel John Dean is set to unveil his theory on Deep Throat's identity tomorrow -- and since he was actually there, he might settle the question once and for all.