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Q: Karl Rove, the White House strategist, got so mad over your immigration stance that you were told not to darken the White House door. What's your relationship like with the president these days?
A: My wife and I went to the holiday ball at the White House. No one dances at this ball, because there's no room, and you get stuck waiting in this line... Luckily, we were by the cocktails and the canapes. Finally we got into the room with the Christmas tree, and the president comes up to me and says, "Tommy, I tell you, buddy, thanks for all the help out there." And I'm thinking, "Help out there?" And I say, "Thanks -- anytime." And I realize later that he's talking about the fact that I was the Bush co-chair in Colorado, an honor I did not seek. That was the sum total of my communion with him.
