Word: rovings
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When Karl Rove hatched the plan, it looked like the sort of deft political move that led George W. Bush to dub him "Boy Genius." Last year the President's political strategist recruited Los Angeles' popular outgoing mayor, Richard Riordan, to run for Governor against the vulnerable Demo-cratic incumbent, Gray Davis--and Rove seemed to be taking the first step toward remaking the moribund California G.O.P. in Bush's image. But Riordan's spectacular defeat in last week's Republican primary suggests that what passes for genius in Washington can look too clever by half anywhere else...
That may explain why Bush's other nickname for Rove is "Turd Blossom." The California move was part of an aggressive and unconventional Rove strategy to boost favored candidates in dozens of G.O.P. primaries around the country. Republican activists are grumbling about White House meddling in a party that claims to champion local decision making. This week supporters of Georgia state representative Bob Irvin--a former minority leader endorsed by 71 current and former state legislators--plan to send Rove and White House political director Ken Mehlman a letter protesting Bush's support of Congressman Saxby Cham-bliss over Irvin...
...unfair to blame the California debacle solely on Rove. Riordan, the millionaire ex-mayor whose moderate leanings led some party stalwarts to brand him a RINO (Republican in Name Only), ran a dismal race, blowing a 40-point lead. His untested opponent, millionaire businessman Bill Simon Jr., got an endorsement from 9/11 hero Rudy Giuliani and proved both surefooted and in tune with the conservative voters who dominate the primary. Then Davis did some meddling of his own, spending $10 million on attack ads against Riordan. But the White House failed to anticipate those factors, which explains why Presidents, like...
...Rove believes that ideological purity is not something real-world politicians can afford. (Last week he helped persuade Bush, the avowed free trader, to impose steel tariffs to protect Rust Belt jobs--and votes.) The same goes for impartiality, he says, since the parties are fighting for control of both the House and the Senate this November. "We would be making a mistake if we simply stepped off the battlefield when a lot is at stake and when a lot of people have rallied around one candidate who had become the presumptive favorite," Rove told TIME...
...their part, Bush and Rove didn't lose as much as some claim when their anointed candidate crashed and burned. But they were reminded that all politics is local. The President, despite his high popularity, cannot carry a candidate by himself. Still, Simon will take the help, and Bush is already reaching out. He called Simon at a post primary party, and told him "I know you can beat Gray Davis and I want to help...