New Clues About Who Leaked Valerie Plame's Name

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Coincidental Conversation?

Official calendars for Richard Armitage, obtained by the AP, show the former deputy secretary of state held a private meeting with reporter Bob Woodward on June 13, 2003 — the same time Woodward has said an administration official talked to him about CIA employee Valerie Plame. Neither Woodward or Armitage would comment on the meeting.

The investigation into who leaked Plame's identity was triggered by columnist Robert Novak's revelation that Plame was a CIA operative. Novak said only that his source was a senior administration official.

It is also known that Novak met at the time not only with Armitage, but also with Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Bush's Approval Up

The president's job approval rating jumped 5 points to 42 percent in a new USA Today/Gallup poll — his best mark in more than six months. The recent disruption of the British terror plot is the likely cause.

While his ratings on all other issues remained steady, 55 percent now say they approve of President Bush's handling of the War on Terror, up from 47 percent last month.

The president's approval rating jumped most among independents — up six points to 36 percent. And 41 percent of women say they approve of the job President Bush is doing — his best performance in any poll since January.

Greenland's Melting Glaciers: Natural Warming?

Environmental activists who point to Greenland's melting coastal glaciers as graphic evidence of man-made global warming may have to find another example. That's according to a new study which shows the glaciers have been shrinking since the 1880s.

Danish scientists analyzed 19th century maps and modern satellite images, finding that 70 percent of Greenland's glaciers have been melting regularly for more than 100 years, and shrunk the most between 1964 and 1985.

The scientists conclude that the melt is "the result of the atmosphere's natural warming," along with greenhouse gases which have "aggravated the situation."

Republican Baby Boom?

Liberal efforts to get out the youth vote are finding fewer and fewer young Democrats to entice to the polls — all because of the politics of reproduction.

Syracuse professor Arthur Brooks writes in The Wall Street Journal that conservative families are currently producing 41 percent more offspring than liberal ones. Since 80 percent of people grow up to vote the same way as their parents, that "fertility gap" is producing significantly more young Republicans than Democrats.

What's more, Brooks says the gap is widening by more than half a point per year, meaning that even liberal states like California could be decidedly conservative in a decade.

—FOX News Channel's Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.