Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

-Karl Rove at Minnesota’s state GOP convention.

By Carlyn Reichel

When Karl Rove delivered the keynote address at the Minnesota State Republican Convention this afternoon, one republican was noticeably missing from his speech on the importance of winning the presidential election in November — John McCain. In an approximately 45 minute speech, Rove spoke the name of McCain only once, at around minute 44 as part of a message to the delegates: “John McCain and Norm Coleman can’t do it alone.” Rove spent more than half of his speech firing up the crowd by denouncing Senator Barack Obama and the “white-wine sipping swells in San Francisco.” Other prominent Democrats were also highlighted throughout the speech: John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, even Al Gore inventing the internet provided easy laugh lines for the party faithful. On the other side of the aisle, Rove spoke glowingly about Minnesotan Republicans Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Norm Coleman, Rep. Michelle Bachmann and retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad. In a speech meant to fire up a crowd of loyal, active Republicans about the importance of winning the presidential election in 2008, the absence of praise for John McCain was a notable omission.

Or maybe not, given the complicated past between the two men.

In exactly three months, the Republican national convention will kick off in St. Paul, Minnesota to officially nominate John McCain as the Republican candidate for President of the United States. It is a convention McCain might have expected to hold eight years ago, if not for the driving force behind George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign: Karl Rove. Rove has been alleged to be the source of a 2000 push poll in South Carolina that insinuated McCain had fathered an illegitimate, black child. Rove has denied any involvement. The poll is widely considered an influential factor in halting McCain’s momentum towards achieving the presidential nomination in 2000.

All this begs the question: After pulling the strings at the past two Republican national conventions, what role – if any – will Rove play in St. Paul?

Rove was a dominating figure in the Bush administration and national politics until his official retirement to private life last year. Most recently he has been part of the controversy around former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s new book “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.” According to the LA Times and other news outlets, McClellan names Rove as “involved” in the CIA leak case that resulted in the eventual indictment of former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby.

Now Rove is a commentator for FOX News, and the keynote speaker at the Minnesota GOP state convention, but is Rochester as close to St. Paul as Rove will get?