Television News
Jim Rutenberg writes:
WASHINGTON — Late Thursday night, Karl Rove, the architect of the last two Republican presidential victories, was on his new television perch at Fox News, offering free advice to Senator Barack Obama as he closed in on the Democratic nomination.
Any move by Mr. Obama to declare victory before the last of the Democratic primaries in June, Mr. Rove said, would alienate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wing of the party. Now, he has joined them, as an analyst for Fox News and a contributor to Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. Nicolle Wallace, who had been the communications director for President Bush’s 2004 campaign and then held the same job in the White House, was an on-air political consultant for CBS News until last month, when she agreed to join the campaign of Senator John McCain.
There are “Karl Rove-types,” and there is Karl Rove, who helped to define the modern brand of hardball politics and built a new team of Republican operatives, some of them now with the McCain campaign. Mr. Rove, who would not comment for this article, says that he maintains regular contact with his progeny at the McCain campaign.
Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, said he was not worried that his readers would confuse Mr. Rove’s leanings. Mr. Meacham said he hired Mr. Rove as a contributor last fall in part to “responsibly provoke.” It included a denial from Mr. Rove’s lawyer and no comment from Mr. Rove.
Even in the world of Republican politics, Mr. Rove’s roles are sometimes hard to sort out. During the 2000 Republican primary campaign, he made bitter enemies of many in the McCain camp.
Now Mr. Rove appears to be taking a prominent role in trying to rally conservative opinion behind Mr. McCain, who has long engendered suspicion on his party’s right — a constituency Mr. Rove knows well and has long cultivated.
I may like Karl Rove.’ ”
“It’s like watching him at a staff meeting,” said Russ Schriefer, who worked with Mr. Rove in the 2000 and 2004 Bush presidential campaigns.
Unlike many of his fellow commentators, Mr. Rove has avoided many big predictions.
On Fox News he recently suggested that Mr. Obama campaign less and work in the Senate more.
Mr. Begala, the Democratic operative and CNN analyst, said it was Mr. Rove’s job to keep people guessing about his intentions.