The issue that got him the win was values. The Evangelicals, conservative Christians and orthodox Jews came out and voted for Bush by large majorities. Rove may ignore this fact at the expense of the republican party but I doubt it. They know where the 9 million additional votes came from.
"The issue that got him the win was values. The Evangelicals, conservative Christians and orthodox Jews came out and voted for Bush by large majorities. Rove may ignore this fact at the expense of the republican party but I doubt it. They know where the 9 million additional votes came from."
Actually, the way I heard it was that Rove decided after the 2000 election that the reason 2000 was so close was that the evangelicals stayed home. He decided then and there to make the mobilization of the evangelical base, the cornerstone of the 2004 election.