The Grand Jury meets on Wednesdays and Fridays, and is due to expire on the 28th. That leaves only four more days form them to hand down indictments. Rumors have been rampant every Monday and Tuesday for the last 3 weeks about supposed indictments on Wednesday. Many bloggers have said they don't think Fitzgerald wants to wait until the last day to announce indictments because that tends to taint the public's perception of them as rushed and weak. So if nothing happens tomorrow or Friday, there's a good chance nothing will. I think Democrats are feverishly pumping these rumors, hoping they might cause one of the key figures to "crack" and go back to the GJ and rat somebody (i.e. Rove) out. They are all full of crap, Fitzgerald is playing this close and nobody knows what he or the GJ will do.
Is Fitzgerald a Democrat or Republican appointee?
I agree with you. In addition, I think what is happening now is that the media is going nuts because Fitzgerald is actually, gulp, conducting this investigation in a professional manner (no leaks etc.) That must be driving the MSM, and even the new media, nuts. Hence the wild speculation we are getting, and it is wild.
I suspect he's playing a game of chicken, keeping his cards close to the vest, and letting the imaginations of the witnesses to run wild, hoping that someone will crack.
In the end, he may simply announce that he doesn't have anything worth indicting anyone over.