XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX FEB 26,
2006 17:21:05 ET XXXXX
BUSH, ROVE SAY HILLARY WILL WIN DEM PRIMARY -- BUT LOSE GENERAL ELECTION
**World Exclusive**
President Bush and his top strategist, Karl Rove, say Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton will be tough to beat in the Democratic presidential
primaries of 2008 -- but not in the general election!
MORE
Reporter Bill Sammon, who joins the WASHINGTON EXAMINER as Senior White
House Correspondent, is set to launch his
new book,
STRATEGERY.
In the Book, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, Rove is quoted on the-record
and is unleashed on Hillary:
There is a “brittleness about her” that could prove a weakness in
November 2008.
But Rove added that the “hard-driving” Clinton will easily vanquish
Democratic primary rivals like New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and
former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who are merely “preening for the vice
presidential slot.”
President Bush cautioned that Hillary Clinton should not be
underestimated.
“She is a smart person, and obviously has got a lot of experience,” the
president said in an
exclusive
interview for the book STRATEGERY, which is being published Monday.
“It is helpful, to a certain extent, to have seen the presidency and
presidential campaigns firsthand.”
MORE
Clinton was a key adviser to her husband Bill in his two successful
presidential campaigns. During her eight years as First Lady and five
years as a U.S. senator, she has become a political force unto herself.
“I think Hillary Clinton will be a formidable candidate,” Bush said.
“And I don’t know the inner workings of the Democrat primary that much,
but she will be a formidable candidate in the Democrat primary, is what
I meant.”
MORE
Rove agreed in a question-and-answer session in his West Wing office for
STRATEGERY, which is based on exclusive, lengthy interviews with Bush,
Cheney and their top advisers. The third in a series of NEW YORK TIMES
bestsellers chronicling this unlikely yet historic presidency,
STRATEGERY is the most comprehensive, behind-the-scenes account of
Bush’s narrow reelection and the tumultuous 14 months that followed.
“She is the dominant player on their side of the slate,” Rove said of
Clinton. “Anybody who thinks that she’s not going to be the candidate is
kidding themselves.”
But he added that New York Democrat is sometimes too cautious and
“philosophically very liberal,” despite recent efforts to appear
moderate.
Bush vowed to refrain from anointing a GOP successor, saying: “I won’t
be involved in picking.” Still, he had praise for his brother, Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush, who insists he is not running for president.
“He’s a wonderful person who has got a great record as governor,” Bush
said in the Oval Office interview. “And most of the presidents have come
from the governor’s ranks because they have shown the capacity to set
agendas and get results and administer.
“Should he say that ‘I’m interested,’ I think he would be a formidable
candidate,” he added. “But he has said he’s not interested, and I think
he means that.”
The president also lauded another Republican who professes no interest
in succeeding him - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“She’s a remarkable woman,” he said. “But, again, I think you’ve got to
take her for her word.”
Although the president’s name will never appear on another ballot, he
said he wants Republicans to keep winning elections.
“We should be the party in power because we’ve got ideas,” he said. “As
opposed to a party that’s against everything, we’re for things.”
Bush pointed out that Vice President Dick Cheney’s plan to retire after
finishing his term would leave the 2008 presidential election “wide
open” to candidates from both parties. The president noted that for the
first time in 52 years, the field of hopefuls would not include an
incumbent president or vice president.
“Isn’t that interesting?” he marveled. “It may mean all bets are off.”
According to Bush, the nominees from both parties would be wise to avoid
making their campaigns about the past. He believes that was his father’s
mistake in 1992, when the elder President Bush tried to coast to
reelection after vanquishing Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War.
“Any campaign,” the son reflected, “that says, ‘Look at what I did,’ is
going to fail.”
Calling the 2004 campaign “the last fling of my life,” he added: “The
only reason to look back is to be able to justify what I am going to do.
You’ve got to be thinking forward.”
Still, Bush’s 2004 campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, drew useful lessons
from the previous presidential contest.
“Let me tell you the best thing that ever happened to us -- the recount
in 2000,” he said in a STRATEGERY interview. “It steeled everybody. It
put the fear of God in us.
“One of the things that I firmly believe in life is that success is more
dangerous than near failure,” he added. “Because when you fear failure,
you’re hungrier, you’re tougher, you’re smarter, you make more strategic
decisions, and you never take a moment for granted.”
Rove said he expects the Democrats to be hungry in 2008, since they will
have been out of the White House for eight years. He predicted that
Clinton will draw on her extensive campaign experience in her bid for
the presidency.
“She has seen what the job requires,” he said. “And she has been through
six gubernatorial campaigns, two presidential campaigns, and then two
senatorial campaigns in a big, industrial state. So she will be a
formidable campaigner. She’ll be sure-footed.”
Rove hinted that Clinton, who has been somewhat cautious since election
to the Senate in 2000, may find that Americans sometimes want boldness
from their president.
“For somebody who is philosophically very liberal, she’ll be a very
cautious candidate at times,” he said. “That cautiousness will serve her
well a lot of times — not always, but a lot of times.
“For example, her cautiousness had her vote for the Iraq war,” he said.
“Her cautiousness has led her to do things to sort of try to position
herself as a centrist.”
Asked to describe Clinton’s weaknesses, Rove said, “her personal
philosophy and her brittleness about her.”
He added: “The question people will ask is, do we want to have her as
president? And the answer to that will be determined in part by how she
conducts herself. But it will also be settled in part by who the
Republican nominee is and how he or she conducts themselves.”
As for the 2006 congressional elections, Rove was upbeat.
“Republicans will keep the House, Republicans will keep the Senate,” he
predicted. “The question is, what will be the margin? Will we gain a
couple of seats? Will we lose a couple of seats? Will we lose more than
a couple seats? I’m frankly very optimistic.”
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