Bush Karl Rove 2004 election

Bush Adviser Rove on Pledge That 2004 Will Be His Last Presidential Campaign: 'I Said That In Haste. A Lot of People at The White House Told Me That Was a Really Stupid Thing to Say.'

-Says Bush Will Push Hard for Constitutional Amendment on Marriage and for 'Strict Constructionist' Judges -

NEW YORK, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Bush adviser Karl Rove said days after the 2004 election that "2008 is going to be left to someone who has a little bit more energy and interest than me," and 2004 was the last campaign he'd ever do. But in the current issue of Newsweek, he backtracked on that pledge."I said that in haste," Rove says. "A lot of people in the White House told me that that was a really stupid thing to say. So let me say that I can't imagine spending two years away from my wife and son again, the way I did this time. But besides that, who knows?"

In other words, as Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman reports,the Karl Rove Primary has begun -- or at least Rove (and Bush) want the world to believe it has, if for no other reason than to dangle the possibility of help from (or the threat of opposition from) Rove before the eyes of would-be GOP contenders and power brokers. "The president will be a lame duck soon enough," said a Republican strategist. "He can't afford to let Karl be one, too." Indeed, being seen as "close to Karl" is a sign among desperate Republicans of "election" in an almost theological sense, Fineman reports in the December 6 issue of Newsweek.

Fineman reports that in modern times there has never been anyone quite like Rove, possessing such a long working relationship with and influence over a president -- a newly-re-elected one who will wield an expanded majority in Congress. "I've been searching for a parallel figure," says Marshall Wittmann, a political strategist and writer. "The closest is Bobby Kennedy in his brother's administration. But even that doesn't get it. Because as loyal as Karl is, his political ambitions extend beyond one family."

In the next term, Rove says, the president will push -- hard -- for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union of man and woman, andfor "strict constructionist" judges. "Voters like the president because hedoesn't blink and he doesn't waver," says Rove, "and he isn't going to start.He says he values life, and he means it."

Other challenges are personal. Rove's vindictive temper pops out on occasion, as it did when he castigated editors of The New York Times on the campaign trail. "I still have a temper," he says, "for those who deserve it." He insists that the Bush team won't fall victim to hubris or insularity. "We're people who go at each other all the time, and hard. The president likes advisers who are comfortable enough in their own skin to do that. We do."

SOURCE Newsweek Web Site: newsweek.msnbc.com/
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