Rats and Ship? Pushed? What's with Rove?

Karl Rove has handed in his resignation, effective the end of August.

That's not a whole bunch of notice, so one wonders what the back story is.

He is suggesting that he wants to spend more time with his family, which is such a cliché that no one with half a brain believes this.

I see three possibilities:

• He has become a political liability, and was given his walking papers.

I find this very unlikely. The Washington press loves him, and if this were the case, it would have been around the time that Libby was convicted.

• He left because he had a serious disagreement over some policy of the administration.

Likely, and I believe that this dispute might very well be spelled Alberto Gonzalez. I believe that his continued presence is coming from Bush, and not the people around him.

• He's getting out because a whole bunch of sh$@% is about to hit the fan, and he's trying to avoid jail time.

I hope so. It would have to be big, and shattering...but I think that I want this too much to discuss this in an objective matter.

• He realizes that this is the best time for him to get a lucrative book deal, and leaving for the last 18 months of the Bush administration will insulate him from a lot of the toxic waste that will follow up.

Most likely alternative.

[on edit]There is also the possibility that he's leaving to join a presidential campaign.