Eight years after S.C., Karl Rove works with Sen. McCain’s camp

Eight years after helping George Bush defeat John McCain in a bitter primary, Karl Rove appears to be playing a significant role in helping the Arizona Republican win the presidency.

Rove has downplayed his contact with the McCain campaign, but the former adviser to President Bush met with GOP delegates from Colorado last Wednesday. Rove, who is now a Fox News analyst, told reporters after the meeting that he has friends in the McCain organization who occasionally seek his advice.

{mosads}Colorado is a swing state. In an Aug. 14 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rove wrote that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) must carry either Colorado or Virginia in addition to another small state to win in November.

Amid the media frenzy on the pregnancy of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s teenager daughter, Rove appeared on Fox to rebut published reports that the McCain campaign had not thoroughly vetted the Alaska governor.

He said the campaign “carefully vetted” Palin, claiming it was aware of all the revelations that have come out since she was announced as the running mate.

“They knew all of it. … They weren’t bothered by it,” Rove said.

Despite that insight, the McCain campaign denies that Rove has any kind of a prominent position. Asked if he has a major role and whether he has access to inside information, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds replied, “He’s doesn’t. He’s a Fox analyst.”

In May, Rove cut off George Stephanopoulos when the ABC anchor called him an informal adviser to the McCain campaign.

Rove said, “I wouldn’t even go that far — ‘informal adviser.’ No way.”

He later characterized his conversations with the McCain team as “chit-chat.”

Bush dubbed Rove “The Architect” after his reelection triumph four years ago. Rove, regarded by many as a campaign genius, is reviled by the left wing. Even though he is now a private citizen, Rove is regularly cited in Democratic fundraising letters.

In its internal “daily talking points” e-mail, the Obama campaign late last week also referred to him, saying McCain talked about bipartisanship in his nomination acceptance speech, but “didn’t mention that he’s been a George Bush partisan 90 percent of the time, run a Karl Rove campaign, and wants to continue this president’s disastrous economic policies for another four years.”

{mospagebreak}Democrats’ efforts to tie McCain to Bush come as McCain seeks to distance himself from the president, but not upset Republicans who are fond of him.

Rove is a controversial figure. He was reportedly close to being indicted in the Valerie Plame scandal before leaving the White House a year ago. He has also been accused of interfering in the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and refused to testify to Congress on its investigation of the U.S. attorneys controversy.

A GOP operative said Rove has had a consistent, “medium”-sized role with the McCain campaign.

Another senior Republican official said Rove has good relationships with several of McCain’s senior advisers, and it’s not unusual for him to reach out to them.

{mosads}Yet there has been tension between Rove and the McCain campaign. After Rove told washingtonpost.com that McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a political maneuver, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt told CBS, “Karl’s wrong.”

Eight years ago, it was unfathomable to believe Rove would be helping McCain.

Rove relentlessly attacked McCain in 2000 and publicly clashed with the senator’s campaign staffers — such as Rick Davis, who also serves on McCain’s 2008 team.

At the time, Rove said of the Arizona senator, “You cannot become a leader of the United States and hope to achieve things by, basically, irritating everybody around you. … And his legislative accomplishments are few and far between because he cannot work well and bring people together.”

McCain aides were also furious with the smear by a professor at Bob Jones University, who spread false information that the Arizona senator had fathered an illegitimate child.

Officials close to McCain suspected that the Bush camp had something to do with the distribution of information before the crucial South Carolina primary, but they had no proof.

At one point, however, McCain staffers distributed campaign materials to reporters that showed numerous links between the Bush campaign and top officials at Bob Jones University.

In his concession speech after losing the South Carolina primary, McCain accused Bush of pitching a “negative message of fear.”

When he addressed the Colorado delegation last week, Rove spoke glowingly of McCain’s family, specifically referring to Bridget, who was born in Bangladesh and adopted by the McCains.

John Weaver, who played a prominent role on McCain’s 2000 campaign, said the hatchet was buried between Rove and McCain years ago.

“It was an ugly family fight,” Weaver said.

In 2004, McCain endorsed Bush over Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) even though McCain had voted against several elements of the president’s domestic agenda, including the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug measure.

Kerry said McCain seriously considered accepting an offer to become his running mate.

McCain acknowledged that he and Kerry discussed the matter, but said he quickly rejected the idea. Many political analysts said McCain’s endorsement of Bush was key to the president’s narrow reelection win.

Rove declined to comment for this article.

Sam Youngman contributed to this article.