Wisconsin's U.S. attorney Steve Biskupic has been a frequent topic here at TPM.

That's mostly been because of a case Biskupic brought against a state bureaucrat named Georgia Thompson last year. The prosecution, which broadly implicated the Democratic governor Jim Doyle, was frequent grist for Republicans in political ads against Doyle. But though Biskupic somehow scored a conviction, the case was forcefully overturned on appeal last week. The evidence, one of the circuit judges said, was "beyond thin."

Because of this, we thought, here might be a prime example of a "loyal Bushie."

But take a look at this. There's strong evidence that, as a result of complaints from Karl Rove and President Bush himself, Biskupic was inches away from being purged last year.

The real question becomes -- what saved him? The Thompson prosecution?