The
Outsmarting Of Karl Rove
By Ralph Nader
20 November, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Bush's
Brain, Karl Rove, outsmarted himself and lost a chance to keep control
of the Senate in Republican hands. It started and ended in the Connecticut
Senate race with Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman as his "fatal
attraction."
When "pendulum"
Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut Democratic primary in August to upstart
multimillionaire Ned Lamont, Rove phoned Lieberman expressing his support
for Lieberman's Independent run, post primary. Lieberman is widely described
as George W. Bush's favorite Democratic Senator. This is true, not just
due to his support for Bush's Iraq war and other policies, but because
Lieberman's zig-zag reputation undermines the Democrats solidarity in
the Senate.
When Rove signaled support,
the business lobbies poured even more money in to Lieberman's $17 million
campaign. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Lieberman (one of only
two Democratic Senators receiving its taint), and put about $160,000
into his campaign and caused other similarly anti-worker, anti-consumer
and anti-environmental business lobbies to send him checks.
Earlier, Rove laid his own
trap inadvertently when, believing that Lieberman was going to sail
through his nomination fight and the November election, prevailed upon
the state Republican Party not to seek a strong nominee and signaled
that they should not expect any financial help for their nominal nominee
from the many Republican political coffers in Washington, D.C.
Compliantly, the state Republicans
tossed the nomination to a former mayor of Derby, Connecticut, Alan
Schlesinger-truly a nominal candidate-and let him know that he was on
his own-no money, no staff. After reports about his gambling debts and
continuing gambling addiction, Schlesinger promptly measured 3% in the
polls (He ended up with only 10% on Election Day).
Suddenly Lieberman, having
lost the primary, is in political trouble. Does Rove give himself another
chance for a three way race and press the Connecticut Republicans to
find Mr. Schlesinger a nice new career and replace him with some distinguished
candidate who could possibly win a three way race against two Democrats?
No, he does not. Instead he sticks with Lieberman, who wins the election,
and gives the Democrats their 51st seat and control of the Senate and
Karl Rove's judicial nominations.
A 50-50 split between the
Republicans and the Democrats would have been a tie broken by Vice President
Dick Cheney and the Republicans would have continued to control the
Senate.
It is remarkable how absent
was this commentary on Rove's very serious blunder in the Washington
press corps' post-election commentary. Rove jauntily went to his White
House job telling reporters the election wasn't that big of a win for
the Democrats. Mr. Rove, they only took control of the House and Senate.
On the Democrats' side, the
recriminations against Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman,
Howard Dean, have begun from the proxies for Hillary and Bill Clinton-namely,
James Carville and Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). Their ostensible
hostility flows from Dean's determination to run viable Democratic Party
races in all fifty states, reversing the policy of ruling out most of
the so-called more conservative Red States.
Hardly had the ink dried
on the Democrats' election victory tallies, when Carville called for
Dean's resignation and Emanuel grumbled, as he has throughout, about
Dean spreading the money into what he called hopeless races. This has
been the kind of short-term thinking that has brought losses and a shrinking
geographical base for the Democrats year after year, at both federal
and state levels.
Both Carville and Emanuel
claimed Dean could have brought victory to more House seats had he not
spread the money out so much.
It seems that Dean has the
better of this argument by far. First, the DNC can claim some red state
victories-three House seats in rock-ribbed Republican Indiana were taken
from Karl Rove's Party. One in Georgia. A Senate seat in Virginia with
Senator Chuck Schumer's help, and Montana. All very close red state
races.
Over the longer run, Dean
also wins the strategy race. When Democrats abandoned the South, the
Rocky Mountain states, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Alaska in their Presidential
races, the Democratic Party suffered all the way down the ballot line
to the towns and cities. The Party shriveled up. Party offices closed.
Few field organizers remained.
The Republicans were automatically
elected in larger numbers, setting up their control of the redistricting
process to further entrench their electoral numbers. A vicious circle
that Dean wants to challenge even if it takes a few year.
What Dean started was a rebuilding
process to make his Democrats a factor, to make a contest out of these
elections, instead of what they have become for the Republicans-coronations.
This approach spreads out the Republican's resources and puts them on
the defensive for a change.
Dean's job is secure. He
has the support of the state Democratic Parties who welcome his fair
distribution of attention and resources. He is gaining credibility outside
the Beltway. But the Clintonistas in his Party do not like his independence.
And Karl Rove does not like Dean's victories.
Now what Dean needs is a
broad-gauged, present and future sensitive political agenda, which seeks
secure peace abroad and the supremacy of the people over corporations
at home.
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