Political columnist Robert D. Novak, pictured Tuesday in the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University, spoke Tuesday evening at the Institute. Novak was in town promoting his new book The

Political reporter and columnist Robert D. Novak said Tuesday night he didn’t believe a Bush administration official revealing the identity of Joseph Wilson’s wife to him as a CIA agent was an orchestrated effort to smear Wilson, a Bush critic.

The Valerie Plame case was one story that the longtime journalist and commentator used to take an audience of 200 people at the Dole Institute of Politics inside the political winds of Washington during a 90-minute talk.

Novak’s source, Richard Armitage, then the deputy secretary of state, was not overly critical of Wilson, a former ambassador, who on a mission to Niger said he found no evidence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime had tried to purchase uranium there, Novak said.

Novak himself was a critic of the war and even the first Gulf War. He said Bush critics in the Senate and even in the CIA gave his column more attention weeks after it was published.

“They decided this was the lever to hammer Bush with, and it was a strictly political thing,” Novak said.

Novak, who is conservative with some libertarian views, made it to Lawrence to discuss his new book, “The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington.”

A fellow writer coined the name for him during his early years covering the Senate because of Novak’s “low opinion for the political class.” But others have since attached the nickname because of his support for “limited government, low taxes and individual economic freedom.”

“In Washington, that makes you the ‘prince of darkness,'” Novak said.

During the question-and-answer session with Jonathan Earle, the institute’s interim director, and the audience, Novak, 76, provided several anecdotes, such as President Kennedy taking corners rapidly as he drove him around Washington in a convertible.

He also talked about the Iraq war, which he said is one major reason for the Republican party’s current troubles.

“George W. Bush got into nation-building. We’re not very good at nation-building. I don’t know who is good at nation-building, but we’re not,” he said.

His stories included former Sen. Bob Dole – the 1996 GOP presidential nominee – leaking his vice presidential candidate choice of Jack Kemp to Novak, even though the two were not generally fans of each other, Novak said.

“He only mentioned the tip of the iceberg, I’m sure,” said Joe Levy, of Lawrence. “It’s great that someone like him can come in here and share these stories with us because we’re not privy to the information.”

Novak called his decision to name Plame in the column valid. He also said he considered his involvement in the case one of the least important things he’s done, but because of the late stage in his career, it likely will be in the first line of his obituary.

“I never dreamed it would cause this much trouble,” he said.