[tanknetter]

The prosecutor should resign and hold a press conference saying he was unfairly pressured by Federal authorities and could not reach a measured decision.

Yes, but (again, assuming this article is accurate) they could have figured out a way out of it without stirring up to much confrontation between Fed and State.

So, consider this scenario. The Feds threaten the prosecutor with a bias charge if the grand jury doesn't return an indictment. I mean, afterall, a decent prosecutor can get a GJ to indict a ham sandwich, right?

The prosecutor lets the governor know about it. Even tho they're both Dems they're seriously offended by it. So they sit on the no-bill for several weeks (eliminating any possibility of it being a factor in the elections.

Then the Governor calls up the National Guard, in direct contravention to what the DoJ/AG desires (that Holder is upset about this has been covered in other articles and threads).

THEN, right before the no bill drops, the Gov and/or prosecutor leak the story to a small-time, unknown and possibly less-than-credible "news" outlet.

It puts the Feds on notice that the Gov/Prosecutor are standing their ground and are prepared to take the full story public in a very, very damaging way. But because it's done through a possibly less-than-credible outlet (rather than through a big mainstream one) there's plenty of plausible deniability about the accuracy of the story and where it came from, and the DoJ/AG has an open door that allows them to back away from the situation without losing face.