In all the immediate punditry about Karl Rove's sudden resignation from the White House, I've heard commentators speculate over whether Rove will soon be advising one of the GOP's 2008 presidential contenders. This prospect seems absurd. George W. Bush is in the low to mid 20s in the polls. The next Republican presidential nominee will probably have a serious dilemma: how to distance himself from Bush. Sure, Rove still plays well with Republican primary voters. But when it's general election time, will the GOP candidate--whomever it is--want to be closely associated with the man known as "Bush's Brain"? As of now, Rove is more liability than asset. This is one brain a Republican contender can do without.

SMALL CHANGE. I just noticed that after Mitt Romney won the not-so-important Republican straw poll in Ames, Iowa, this past weekend, he said, "Today, the people of this great state sent a message to America, and that is that change begins in Iowa."

A question for the former Massachusetts governor: what "change" are you talking about? We've had a Republican president for two terms, and he has gotten the country stuck in an unpopular war in Iraq. You are a Republican and you support the war, so what "change" do you represent?

Posted by David Corn at August 13, 2007 03:40 PM