GOP at a loss? Karl Rove has an 11th-hour plan to win

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 28, 2006 | Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten

[West Coast Conservative]

During a whirlwind five-hour trip to bolster an endangered GOP congressman's reelection prospects, White House political guru Karl Rove last week delivered a fiery speech to 500 party activists, then shook every available hand and posed for snapshots like a rock star. He toured suburbs recently trashed by a snowstorm. He also found time to huddle with local strategists.

But the most significant element of Rove's effort to help four-term Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds keep his job may have occurred behind closed doors, when the White House strategist met with a federal disaster relief official contemplating how to respond to the storm. Four days after the meeting, Reynolds announced that President Bush would authorize millions of dollars in federal disaster aid for the area.

The timing was perfect: Reynolds broke the news hours after testifying before the House Ethics Committee about his role in the Mark Foley sex scandal — knocking reports on the scandal out of the spotlight.

Reynolds' fate Nov. 7 could be a bellwether for Republicans in the Northeast — in the midterm elections as well as the long term. And his poll numbers crashed after revelations that he had known about suspicious e-mails the former Florida congressman had sent to male congressional pages. In the wake of the announcement about federal aid, a survey by a Buffalo television station showed Reynolds regaining a narrow lead over Democrat Jack Davis.

The White House and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will provide the funds, insist that Rove exerted no influence on the decision to grant relief or on the timing of the announcement.

"The stars were aligned. It was a coincidence," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

[nutmeg]

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[Dane]

Oh darn the LA Slimes is saying. There are more important things than mark foley, and mentioning mark foley is not going to work.

JMO, I think the Slimes is seeing that the GOP will retain the House.

[PowerPro]

Oh darn the LA Slimes is saying. There are more important things than mark foley, and mentioning mark foley is not going to work.

Man I bet they're ticked that they dropped the Foley bomb too early.

If they had waited a few more weeks, they could have used it without it looking so pathetic. Now...it's just, well, pathetic.

JMO, I think the Slimes is seeing that the GOP will retain the House.

You know, I think you're right. It'll be tight, but I think when it comes down to it, conservatives...even the really disgruntled ones...will make the extra effort because a Democratically controlled House and/or Senate would be a nightmare of disasterous proportions. Think Speaker Pelosi and let it sink in my friends. I'm not delighted with my GOP right now, but that prospect is enough to have me racing to the polls on Election Day. [shudders violently]

[ChiMark]

Could this be an attempt for the MSM to cover it's
back? They've been predicting dem victory since spring.

[CalvaryJohn]

Yep. Karl Rove's weather machine worked again. Just a coincidence? I don't think so.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.


PowerPro,


Man I bet they're ticked that they dropped the Foley bomb too early.

If they had waited a few more weeks, they could have used it without it looking so pathetic. Now...it's just, well, pathetic.


The Dems are professionals ... they don't make mistakes, especially with Congressional level smear campaigns such as the Foley fiasco.

I think they were "forced" to "shoot" the Foley Scandal weapon for reasons we don't know about yet.

Any political-science college freshman knows that Foley should have been unleashed five (5) days before the election ... not five (5) weeks, which gave the Republicans an eternity to successfully respond.


Patton-at-Bastogne

"May God and His Angels Guard Your Sacred Throne, and May You Long Become It."

Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II


.

[srmorton]

I think they were forced to bring the Foley matter to the forefront earlier because the tide was already starting to turn in favor of the Republicans and the Dems had to stop their momentum.

[BfloGuy]

Up here in Buffalo I watched with barely contained glee as Schumer, Clinton and local Democrat congressional reps took the opportunity of our snowstorm to bash Bush once again on FEMA.

They screamed about FEMA's supposed lack of "boots on the ground" here and that FEMA was so stupid that a Washington spokesperson evidently didn't know what county Buffalo was in.

At the time, I thought they were strolling into a trap -- and they were.

Within a day, FEMA had an army of estimators and adjusters in town and the local news was full of stories informing people how to go about getting their free money -- if only the area would be declared a disaster area.

And lo and behold, on the evening before Reynolds' appearance at the Foley hearings, Bush declared Buffalo a federal disaster area. Now, the Dems don't know what to do.

They can't bash FEMA anymore because it did just what they ordered it to. And while everyone around here concedes that the declaration smelt of politics, no one cares because they're all too busy figuring out how they'll spend their federal checks.

I'm opposed to the welfare state, but the disaster declaration was a much bigger campaign contribution to Reynolds than anything the RNC could have pumped in.

[Gaffer]

Hey, if it was a buy off, I really don't give a damn. With all the crap the Democrats were prepared to do and have done, turnabout is not only "fair-play" but required. When it comes to Democrats and Liberals, my view is Machiavellan in that I don't care what it takes to defeat them for they are truly evil.

[Incorrigible]

RYMB!