Rove Still Involved

USNews reports Karl Rove is still involved (occasionally pronounced not•in•volved by administration officials) as the political architect. U.S. News has learned that Rove resumed his role as Bush's chief political architect and guru when he briefed his boss on last Tuesday's off-year elections. Rove, using an array of numbers gleaned from the results, argued that voters mostly reaffirmed the "status quo" when they handed the GOP defeats in Virginia, New Jersey, and California. And he told the president that the outcomes were based on state and local concerns and individual candidates, which, of course, was what Bush wanted to hear. It would have been more candid to add "and the seedy tactics I've relied on for so long are finally catching up to us and sucking away our support".