Robert Novak dead at 78

Conservative journalist Robert Novak died Tuesday after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 78.

Novak, whose long running “Evans-Novak” political report had made him one of the premiere columnists in Washington, had retired last year after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

A native of Illinois, his long-running report featured tidbits of gossip and hard news scoops that dominated Beltway chatter for decades.

In more recent years, Novak had been a center of controversy, having outed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame in one of his columns, which unraveled into a scandal leading to the temporary jailing of two journalists and the conviction of then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff for lying during the investigation.

Novak’s death was announced by the conservative website Human Events, which had been home to his column in more recent years.