If you've ever wanted to eat dinner with Sarah Palin, now's your chance.

(CNN) – If you've ever wanted to eat dinner with Sarah Palin, now's your chance.

With bids starting at $25,000, eBay is auctioning off a dinner for five with the former Alaska governor and her husband, Todd. The proceeds will go to "Ride 2 Recovery," a charity that provides wounded veterans with bicycles and organized rides to help in their mental and physical recovery.

"The Governor is excited to have been asked to honor our nation's veterans in this way," said Palin spokesman Meg Stapleton.

The auction opens on Tuesday and will last for ten days. Also up for grabs: Lunch with Karl Rove. Bidding on a meal with the former Bush presidential adviser starts at $7,500.

–CNN's Tracy Sabo contributed to this report

If you've ever wanted to eat dinner with Sarah Palin, now's your chance.

(CNN) - If you've ever wanted to eat dinner with Sarah Palin, now's your chance.

With bids starting at $25,000, eBay is auctioning off a dinner for five with the former Alaska governor and her husband, Todd. The proceeds will go to "Ride 2 Recovery," a charity that provides wounded veterans with bicycles and organized rides to help in their mental and physical recovery.

"The Governor is excited to have been asked to honor our nation's veterans in this way," said Palin spokesman Meg Stapleton.

The auction opens on Tuesday and will last for ten days. Also up for grabs: Lunch with Karl Rove. Bidding on a meal with the former Bush presidential adviser starts at $7,500.

–CNN's Tracy Sabo contributed to this report

House Judiciary Committee sources say they expect Karl Rove will be called to testify again.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - White House e-mails and transcripts of closed-door interviews with former Bush aides Karl Rove and Harriet Miers reveal involvement as early as May 2005 by Rove's office in the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday released nearly 6,000 pages of documents from the committee's investigation into the firings.

In May and June 2005, for example, Rove aide Scott Jennings wrote e-mails to Tim Griffin, also in Rove's White House office, pushing for the dismissal of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

Jennings wondered "what else I can do to move this process forward" in one e-mail, and told Griffin in another that, "I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM US ATTY." The impetus behind the push, according to the documents, was a disagreement in how Iglesias handled voter fraud cases.

Miers, then White House counsel, e-mailed in June 2005 that a "decision" had been made to replace Iglesias despite the attorney's top job review rankings from the Department of Justice.

Rove told the judiciary committee, according to transcripts of his interview, that Jennings was "freelancing" in his attempts to have Iglesias fired, but Miers, in her interview, said that a very "agitated" Rove telephoned her from New Mexico in September 2006, saying that Iglesias was "a serious problem and he wanted something done about it."

A month later, then-U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-New Mexico, e-mailed Rove that Iglesias was "shy about doing his job" of bringing corruption charges against her opponent in the 2006 race, Patricia Madrid.

Records also show that then-U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, also was involved in pressing for Iglesias' replacement. The documents and transcripts show that Domenici spoke with White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten about Iglesias in early October and either he or his staff spoke with Rove at least four times in October.

Iglesias was ultimately placed on a list of attorneys to be fired in late 2006.

Full story

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A House Judiciary Committee spokesman confirms that former Bush advisor Karl Rove was deposed by committee lawyers today. The spokesman declined to provide further detail.

Republican strategist Karl Rove said Sunday that Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to step down risky and not clear.

(CNN) - The "architect" of George W. Bush's successful presidential campaigns has questions about Sarah Palin's resignation as governor.

"It's a risky strategy," Republican campaign mastermind Karl Rove told "Fox News Sunday."

Palin's unexpected announcement Friday that she will step down with 18 months left in her first term has left many in her party "a little perplexed," said Rove, whom Bush dubbed "The Architect" for managing his two victorious campaigns in 2000 and 2004.

Palin, who was John McCain's surprise vice presidential candidate in the 2008 election, said she already knew she would not seek a second term, and decided against being a lame duck governor for the next 18 months.

She also complained that too much time and taxpayer expense was going toward fighting ethics investigations, and that the mainstream media continued with unfair attacks on her and her family.

Some analysts believe Palin will seek the 2012 Republican nomination, and that her resignation is intended to free her to prepare.

Rove said stepping down now won't lessen the media spotlight, and in fact takes away her platform as governor for controlling her agenda and message.

"The media, if she wants to run for president, is going to be following her for the next 3-1/2 years," Rove said.

He called her move unclear and therefore a potentially harmful strategy for a politician.

"Effective strategies in politics are ones that are so clear and obvious that people can grasp," Rove said. "It's not clear what she's doing and why."

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska criticized Palin's decision as abandoning the state's voters. Palin defeated Murkowski's father in winning the gubernatorial election in 2006.

But Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, also on the Fox program, said Sunday that Murkowski's statement disappointed him because it failed to recognize all that Palin has accomplished in her 2-1/2 years in office.

"She doesn't need a title to effect change and bring some hope to people who need it," said Parnell, a Republican who stands to become governor with Palin's resignation.

In an Independence Day message to supporters, Palin said she was leaving office for a "higher calling."

"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," Palin said in a statement attributed to her on her Facebook page. "And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it's right for all, including your family."

Palin said her administration had "accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two."

"We have accomplished so much and there's much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most," she said. "And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier - I've never been one to waste time or resources."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, noted that Palin will remain in the media spotlight regardless of whether she is governor.

"The challenge that she's going to have is that there will be people who will say, look, if they chased you out of this, it won't get any easier at other levels," Huckabee said. "It could be a brilliant strategy. The point is we don't know."

Huckabee called a presidential campaign "brutal," and said a Republican primary will ratchet up the pressure on Palin.

"When your opponents within your own team spend millions of dollars to redefine you, it's very very difficult," Huckabee said.

(CNN) – A debate between political strategists Karl Rove and James Carville grew heated Tuesday night when it came to the future of the Republican Party.

Rove said he's siding with Limbaugh.

(CNN) – In the ongoing war of words between Rush Limbaugh and Colin Powell, top Bush strategist Karl Rove is siding with the popular talk radio host.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Rove said Limbaugh would edge out the former secretary of state if he "had to pick between the two."

Rove's comments come after a back-and-forth between Limbaugh and Powell, during which both have charged the other is hurting the GOP's chances of success in the future.

Discussing divisions over the direction of the party in the wake of its losses in the 2006 midterm elections and 2008 presidential election, Powell said the party should expand its base.

"I have always felt that the Republican Party should be more inclusive than it generally has been over the years and I believe that we need a strong Republican Party that is not just anchored in the base but has built on the base to include more individuals," he told "Face the Nation."

Ultimately, Rove said, the debate between Limbaugh and Powell is a "false" one because neither is a candidate for public office.

"The real debate takes place out there in the real world by people getting out there and encouraging the kind of candidates who represent their vision for the party," Rove said.

Prosecutors interviewed Karl Rove today inside his lawyer’s office.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Bush administration official Karl Rove was interviewed Friday at the office of his lawyer about why several U.S. attorneys were fired in 2006.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, issued a statement after the meeting saying, "Mr. Rove was interviewed by prosecutors today and answered all of their questions. He intends to fully cooperate with the investigation."

Rove himself had no comment for reporters outside Luskin's office, saying only, "Have a nice weekend."

No details of the discussions were publicly released Friday, so the scope of the questioning was not fully known.

Read more

Karl Rove, a former aide to President George W. Bush, will be interviewed about the firing of several U.S. attorneys in 2006, a source tells CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Bush administration official Karl Rove is scheduled to be interviewed Friday about why a number of U.S. attorneys were fired in 2006, according to an attorney in private practice familiar with the
case.

Rove will be questioned by Nora Dannehy, a Connecticut prosecutor who was appointed last year to lead an investigation into whether any Bush administration officials broke any laws in connection with the dismissals.

A spokesman for Dannehy would not comment when asked whether a meeting is scheduled with Rove.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, would not comment on whether his client will be interviewed Friday. But he told CNN, "Rove has said since Ms. Dannehy was appointed that he would cooperate fully with her investigation."

A Justice Department report last year found the firings of some U.S. attorneys were influenced by political considerations.

Meghan McCain is no fan of Karl Rove's tweets.

(CNN) – Meghan McCain - who said earlier this week that she found Karl Rove "creepy" - said Thursday she wished the former Bush advisor would just "go away."

"The DNC just did an ad, and it has Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney as the new faces of the Republican Party," she said on The View, adding that the party's young people like herself were looking for "new energy and new blood."

"It's very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the president," said the 24-year-old daughter of former GOP presidential candidate John McCain. "It's very unprecendented, former vice president, and obviously Karl Rove, and my big criticism is: you had your eight years, go away."

"...[Rove] twittering is not going to make any young people come to the Republican Party, and I don't think any person my age is going to think that is cool," she said.

Earlier this week, McCain wrote in a blog post for the Daily Beast that she was uncomfortable with the fact that Rove followed her on Twitter. "That's creepy," she wrote. "We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people."

McCain, who guest co-hosted The View Thursday, was making her second appearance on the show. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked her about mother Cindy McCain's recent comment that she's "ready for grandchildren."

"I was like, call (brothers) Jack or Jimmy because I actually don't want kids at all," McCain said firmly. "You change your mind about different things in life. I really want the career I always wanted, and I'm writing a book, and I can't even conceive of having children."

McCain is writing a book for Hyperion about the future of the Republican Party.

Meghan McCain is no fan of Karl Rove's tweets.

(CNN) – Meghan McCain loves Twitter - except for the "creepy people." Like Karl Rove.

In a blog post for the Daily Beast published Monday, McCain says the social networking site has been a "liberating" experience for her - if only her dispatches weren't being read by the former Bush advisor.

"Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That's creepy," she said. "I joined Twitter a few months ago; so far, it has been a liberating way to transition from political to personal blogging. It's allowed me to share the less serious aspects and humorously uncensored moments of my life. But there's also been a downside: I am now being followed by Karl Rove, and my local sheriff, and God knows how many other political pundits. We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people."

Later, she wrote: "I can't shake the fact that Karl Rove is following me-it can be creepy. So watch out."

The daughter of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain also said she finds Rove's Tweets "boring," and speculated that he had a "ghost Twitterer" or an assistant posting his thoughts.

"On the surface, Karl Rove's Twitter feed intrigues me," she said. Here's a guy who for years has been perceived as some kind of inaccessible man-behind-the-curtain figure. And now he Tweets numerous times a day. I've never met him in person, which only makes our Twitter relationship even weirder. And to be honest, I find Rove's Tweets boring. Sometimes he takes questions; other times he talks about his appearances on cable news and other shows. But he doesn't say anything substantive."

She said that Rove's Tweets "seem to reveal a softer side to him" - but drew her skepticism.

"Call it savvy marketing, but I find it disingenuous," she said. "And it's a bit weird to think his people-not even Rove himself-are following me."

Rove took aim at Biden over his comments to CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Karl Rove fired the latest volley in the increasingly brutal war of words between Joe Biden and former Bush administration officials, calling the vice president a “serial exaggerator” and a “liar” over recent comments to CNN about former President Bush.

“He’s a serial exaggerator. If I was being unkind I’d say he’s a liar, but it is a habit he ought to drop,” Rove, who also called Biden a “blowhard,” told FOX News Thursday night.

On Tuesday, the vice president criticized his predecessor Dick Cheney's recent comments about some of the Obama administration's foreign policy decisions. He also told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger that former President Bush had described himself as a leader during a private Oval Office meeting, and Biden had replied: “Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.”

Rove said Thursday the incident was fiction, and that Biden and Bush had never been alone together. “You’ll notice every one of these incidents has the same structure,” he said. “Joe Biden courageously raises the impudent question, the president befuddledly answers, and Joe Biden drives home the dramatic response. I mean, it’s his imagination. It’s a made-up, fictional world. He oughta get back to it and get back to reality.”

“…You should not exaggerate and lie like this when you are the Vice President of the United States.”

CNN is awaiting a response from the vice president’s office.

The DNC released a scathing Web ad Thursday blasting Karl Rove, pictured above, for a his recent comments calling President Obama an 'arrogant guy.'

(CNN) - The Democratic National Committee is taking aim at former Bush adviser Karl Rove.

The DNC released a scathing Web ad Thursday blasting Rove for a his recent comments calling President Obama an "arrogant guy."

In a 40 second spot titled "Pot. Kettle. Black.," the DNC slammed the former presidential adviser and the policies of the Bush administration, highlighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the current national economic crisis as products of his time in office.

Watch: DNC web ad "Pot. Kettle. Black."

"Karl Rove calls Obama arrogant – really," the text on screen shows.

"Karl, Did You Forget ..."

Statements such as: "mission accomplished, we'll be greeted as liberators, Bin Laden: dead or alive," and "two unfinished wars," and "worst economic crisis in decades" were sandwiched between sound bites of Rove saying "I've always said I think he's kind of an arrogant guy."

"Pot. Kettle. Black.," the text reads as the ad closes.

Former White House political adviser Karl Rove, pictured above, and counsel Harriet Miers have agreed to face questions from Congress about allegations of improper political influence in the Justice Department.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former White House political adviser Karl Rove and counsel Harriet Miers have agreed to face questions from Congress about allegations of improper political influence in the Justice Department, the House Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday.

Both will give depositions to investigators from the committee, and claims of privilege will be "significantly limited," according to a statement from the committee. Rove and Miers had been resisting congressional subpoenas about the matter, but a federal judge in Washington ruled that the former Bush administration officials had no grounds to invoke executive privilege in the case.

The committee, led by Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, has been investigating claims that Rove and his White House allies fired U.S. attorneys for political reasons and prosecuted officials whom they saw as opponents.

Full story

(CNN) – House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a new subpoena for former Bush adviser Karl Rove Monday.

Rove was subpoenaed by Conyers last year, but refused to testify before Congress, pointing to executive privilege although he was no longer part of the administration.

“I have said many times that I will carry this investigation forward to its conclusion, whether in Congress or in court, and today’s action is an important step along the way,” Conyers said in a statement released Monday. “Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it’s time for him to talk.”

The Michigan congressman is again looking to question Rove over whether the prosecution of former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman, and the firing of the U.S. attorneys, were politically motivated. Rove has denied playing a part in either affair.

Rove bested Bush’s book total for a third straight year.

(CNN) - He wasn’t on the ballot this year, but President Bush still lost – to Karl Rove.

For the third consecutive year, Rove has bested Bush in their annual reading contest, the former presidential advisor writes in today’s Wall Street Journal.

The president's reading list this year was weighted towards historical chronicles of conflict, from David Halberstam's "The Coldest Winter" and Rick Atkinson's "Day of Battle" to Stephen W. Sears's "Gettysburg" and James M. McPherson's "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief."

It also included President Grant's "Personal Memoirs," Jon Meacham's "American Lion," James M. McPherson's "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief" and Jacobo Timerman's "Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number."

The contest began when Rove made a New Year’s resolution to finish a book a week in 2006. “The competition soon spun out of control. We kept track not just of books read, but also the number of pages and later the combined size of each book's pages - its ‘Total Lateral Area,’” writes Rove.

“At year's end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as Leader of the Free World.”

That year’s contest drew headlines over the lengthy list of Bush's books, which reportedly Andrew Roberts’s "History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900," Nathaniel Philbrick’s "Mayflower," and Albert Camus’s "The Stranger," according to Rove.

Bush’s total has dropped each year, says his former advisor: from 95 books in 2006, to 51 in 2007, to just 40 in 2008, with less than a week to go until the end of the year.

Rove says he will name his enemies in a new book.

(CNN) – Enemies of President Bush take heed: Karl Rove is set to name names.

The man widely credited with Bush's two presidential victories says his new book will include an accounting of those in Washington who never accepted the president as a legitimate commander-in-chief.

"I've got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they were of this man as president of the United States," Rove told Cox News in an interview published Sunday. "I'm going to name names and show examples."

Rove signed a deal with publishing giant Simon & Schuster last year, reported be worth over $1.5 million.

In the wide-ranging interview, Rove also suggested the criticisms the president and his aides took were partly because they were not part of the Washington establishment.

"You'll notice there was outrage when it was thought that I was the person behind outing Valerie Plame. And then when it came out that it was the sainted [Deputy Secretary of State] Richard Armitage, there was no interest," Rove said. "I don't remember seeing anybody camped out on his doorstep like they were camped out on mine. [It's]because he was part of the acceptable culture of Washington, and I was not. I was one of those Texans who came up. He was one of those perpetual I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you'll-scratch-mine Washington leakers. "

Rove says the excitement surrounding Palin will wear off.

(CNN) - His insight guided both of President Bush's successful White House bids, but aides to John McCain might just be hoping Karl Rove stops talking.

Days after the prominent Republican strategist said the latest McCain campaign ads had "gone too far" and failed the "100 percent truth test," Rove told the Associated Press Wednesday he thinks the choice of Sarah Palin was a political one and that the excitement she has generated will soon wear off.

"Nothing lasts for 60-some-odd days," he told the Associated Press. "Will she be the center of attention in the remaining 48 days? No, but she came on in a very powerful way and has given a sense of urgency to the McCain campaign that's pretty remarkable."

Related: Palin excitement levels off

Rove also described the choice of Palin as a "political pick," and said she was not the most qualified Republican McCain could have chosen. But Rove also said Joe Biden, who has spent three decades in the Senate, was also a political pick - designed to make up for Barack Obama's relatively short resume.

"I think the American people have deep and persistent doubts about the readiness of this dynamic and charismatic first-term senator from Illinois," said Rove.

Rove's comments also come days after he wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal advising Barack Obama to stop attacking Palin directly, noting past attempts by Democratic presidential nominees to attack the No. 2 on the GOP ticket have largely fell flat.

“It's a match-up he'll lose," Rove writes Thursday in his regular Wall Street Journal column. "If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president."

Rove also told the AP Obama is an "arrogant dilettante," but continued to offer the Illinois senator advice on how to win the election: "The way that Obama can win is by explaining, expounding on who he is."

Karl Rove had some rare criticism for McCain Sunday.

(CNN) – Former Bush adviser Karl Rove suggested Sunday that John McCain had gone “one step too far” in some of his recent ads attacking Barack Obama.

Rove has leveled similar criticism against Obama. “McCain has gone in some of his ads - similarly gone one step too far,” he told Fox News, “and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the ‘100 percent truth’ test.”

Watch: The campaign ad wars heat up

The Obama campaign immediately leaped on the quote. "In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove - the man who held the previous record - said McCain's ads have gone too far," said campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor, in a statement sent to reporters minutes after Rove’s on-air comments.

Listen: the Obama camp slams McCain in Sunday conference call

Rove masterminded both of President Bush’s successful White House bids, including a tough primary season battle with John McCain in 2000.

UPDATE: Rove said Sunday Democrats e-mailing around his quote without noting that he levels similar criticism against Obama were distorting his meaning. “Of course, they fail to say anything about the fact I said they were even more misleading,” he told Politico.

Karl Rove is offering unsolicited campaign advice to Obama .

(CNN) – Karl Rove is again offering unsolicited advice to Barack Obama, this time advising the Democratic presidential nominee to avoid attacking Sarah Palin directly if he hopes to win the White House in November.

“It's a match-up he'll lose," Rove writes Thursday in his regular Wall Street Journal column. "If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president."

Rove notes past attempts by Democratic presidential nominees to attack the No. 2 on the GOP ticket have largely fell flat, and says the issues Obama is hitting Palin on are ones the Illinois senator is weak on himself.

"If Mr. Obama keeps attacking Mrs. Palin, he could suffer the fate of his Democratic predecessors. These assaults highlight his own tissue-thin résumé, waste precious time better spent reassuring voters he is up for the job, and diminish him - not her," Rove writes.

Specifically, Rove says it is not in Obama's interest to attack the Alaska governor on her lack of experience or the earmarks she has requested - two issues, Rove says, on which voters may also question Obama's record.

Since she was named to the GOP ticket two weeks ago, Obama has rarely called out Palin directly, often attacking both her and McCain together as representing a continuation of President Bush's policies. But in an interview on CNN last week, Obama suggested his executive experience surpassed Palin's.

“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wasilla, has I think 50 employees," he said. "We've got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month."

He also on Sunday called out her claim she is an anti-earmark reformer, saying "I know the governor of Alaska has been saying she's change, and that's great…[but] when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change….you can't just make stuff up."

Sens. Biden and Obama campaigned together in Michigan Sunday.

(CNN) – If Sen. Joe Biden was hurt that Republican operative Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at an event in Minneapolis Monday, he didn’t show it.

On hearing the news, Biden grinned and said “he’s a great American.”

The blog Politicker ME reports that at a Maine delegate breakfast at the Republican National Convention, Rove, the so-called “architect” of the Bush administration, called Biden a “big blowhard doofus.” Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is notorious in Washington for being talkative at Senate hearings.

Later, in response to a different question, Rove is reported to have asked "Is there press in this room?"

Biden addressed the criticism during a flight on his campaign plane Monday evening. A reporter asked if the senator would now answer to “Senator Doofus.”

“You can call me anything you want,” he said. “I learned a long time ago you can call me anything you want.”

Both political parties have made a point in recent days to draw down partisan rhetoric as Hurricane Gustav threatened the Gulf Coast. Biden said he would have no trouble drawing his sword in the weeks to come.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble resuming the campaign,” he said. “I guess Karl did it already. I guess he didn’t get the memo.”

Biden’s campaign spokesman quickly released a statement rebuking Rove for the comments.

“It’s more than a little sad that with another hurricane heading for the Gulf Coast, Karl Rove is up to the same old attack politics that he practically patented while helping dig a deep hole for our country to get out of,” said Biden Spokesman David Wade. “Americans deserve better, especially at a time like this.”

Sens. Biden and Obama campaigned together in Michigan Sunday.

(CNN) – If Sen. Joe Biden was hurt that Republican operative Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at an event in Minneapolis Monday, he didn’t show it.

On hearing the news, Biden grinned and said “he’s a great American.”

The blog Politicker ME reports that at a Maine delegate breakfast at the Republican National Convention, Rove, the so-called “architect” of the Bush administration, called Biden a “big blowhard doofus.” Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is notorious in Washington for being talkative at Senate hearings.

Later, in response to a different question, Rove is reported to have asked "Is there press in this room?"

Biden addressed the criticism during a flight on his campaign plane Monday evening. A reporter asked if the senator would now answer to “Senator Doofus.”

“You can call me anything you want,” he said. “I learned a long time ago you can call me anything you want.”

Both political parties have made a point in recent days to draw down partisan rhetoric as Hurricane Gustav threatened the Gulf Coast. Biden said he would have no trouble drawing his sword in the weeks to come.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble resuming the campaign,” he said. “I guess Karl did it already. I guess he didn’t get the memo.”

Biden’s campaign spokesman quickly released a statement rebuking Rove for the comments.

“It’s more than a little sad that with another hurricane heading for the Gulf Coast, Karl Rove is up to the same old attack politics that he practically patented while helping dig a deep hole for our country to get out of,” said Biden Spokesman David Wade. “Americans deserve better, especially at a time like this.”

Gov. Tim Kaine shoots back against criticism from Karl Rove.

(CNN) – It was a tough retort from Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia.

Kaine responded Sunday to comments made by Republican strategist Karl Rove earlier this month criticizing Kaine's potential vice presidential credentials.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Rove jabbed at the governor, saying "again no disrespect to Gov. Kaine. He's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done."

The Democratic governor - who is rumored to be on Barack Obama's potential VP list - pointed out that his state was voted best for business three years in a row by Forbes.com and said "maybe Karl Roves and the Republicans don't care about business climate, that would explain why we're in the situation that we're in".

"Governing Magazine was also named Virginia as the top governed state in America," Kaine told reporters, "maybe to Karl Rove that isn't an achievement that would explain a federal government that couldn't respond to a hurricane a Katrina and couldn't figure out how to start and manage a war."

Kaine spoke to reporters in Washington after shooting a televised interview Sunday morning.

By the way, in the 2008 Governing Magazine ranking, Virginia shares its top A- rating with two other states: Washington and Utah.

Obama's campaign said the latest McCain ad is beyond Karl Rove's playbook.

(CNN) - Few names inspire more of a heated reaction among Democrats than Karl Rove, and Barack Obama’s campaign is making a concerted effort Thursday to link the former Bush advisor to John McCain's presidential campaign.

On a campaign conference call with reporters responding to the Arizona senator's latest television ad, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the spot is worse than anything Rove would have developed.

"This is not the John McCain voters thought they would be seeing in this presidential campaign," Plouffe said. "He's not just embracing the Rove playbook that people really are tired of, he's taking it to a further extreme."

Those comments came only hours after Plouffe circulated a fundraising e-mail to supporters in which he said McCain's campaign had taken a "nasty turn” with its "Karl Rove-style ploy."

"This Karl Rove-style ploy misleads people about Barack's energy plan and even mocks his ability to inspire voters and bring Americans back into the political process," Plouffe wrote in the e-mail.

The television ad in question compares Obama's celebrity status to that of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and questions whether the Illinois senator is "ready to lead." Obama dismissed the ad as "game playing" Thursday while McCain said he was "proud of it."

Watch: McCain ad compares Obama to Paris Hilton, Britney Spears

Rove has no official role with the McCain campaign, though Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser in charge of the day-to-day message, was a longtime protégé of Rove's.

Obama's campaign said the latest McCain ad is beyond Karl Rove's playbook.

(CNN) - Few names inspire more of a heated reaction among Democrats than Karl Rove, and Barack Obama’s campaign is making a concerted effort Thursday to link the former Bush advisor to John McCain's presidential campaign.

On a campaign conference call with reporters responding to the Arizona senator's latest television ad, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the spot is worse than anything Rove would have developed.

"This is not the John McCain voters thought they would be seeing in this presidential campaign," Plouffe said. "He's not just embracing the Rove playbook that people really are tired of, he's taking it to a further extreme."

Those comments came only hours after Plouffe circulated a fundraising e-mail to supporters in which he said McCain's campaign had taken a "nasty turn” with its "Karl Rove-style ploy."

"This Karl Rove-style ploy misleads people about Barack's energy plan and even mocks his ability to inspire voters and bring Americans back into the political process," Plouffe wrote in the e-mail.

The television ad in question compares Obama's celebrity status to that of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and questions whether the Illinois senator is "ready to lead." Obama dismissed the ad as "game playing" Thursday while McCain said he was "proud of it."

Watch: McCain ad compares Obama to Paris Hilton, Britney Spears

Rove has no official role with the McCain campaign, though Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser in charge of the day-to-day message, was a longtime protégé of Rove's.

Rove is a former top Bush aide.

(CNN) – The future Karl Roves of the world may be outlawed from working in the White House.

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, suggested to a Capitol Hill newspaper that he is considering legislation that bans the use of federal money to fund a position similar to the one the longtime Bush aide held in the White House.

Rove, who orchestrated both of the president's successful electoral victories, headed the White House's Office of Political Affairs and the Office of Public Liaison during Bush's first term. Democrats have long accused Rove of using those offices - which include interacting with political committees and interest groups - to essentially run the president's 2004 reelection campaign.

“Why should we be using taxpayer dollars to have a person solely in charge of politics in the White House?” Waxman told The Hill. “Can you imagine the reaction if each member of Congress had a campaign person paid for with taxpayer dollars?”

Ethics rules in the Senate are considerably clearer when it comes to conducting political business: congressional aides are banned from using government phones, e-mail, and computers for any politically-related job.

Waxman's office confirmed the accuracy of the quotes, but would not comment further.

Former top Bush aide Karl Rove.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday served a subpoena on former top Bush aide Karl Rove to compel his testimony concerning allegations that the Department of Justice had dismissed U.S. attorneys based on party affiliation.

The committee ordered Rove to appear July 10 to testify on allegations he was a key player in pressing the Justice Department to dismiss some U.S. attorneys and to prosecute Democrats

It had authorized the subpoena earlier, but only delivered it Thursday after Rove's attorney said he would not appear voluntarily, Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, said in a written statement.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers said. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters."

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Rove addressed the NRA Convention Friday.

(CNN) - Karl Rove launched a wide-ranging attack on Barack Obama during a speech at the National Rifle Association Convention Friday, blasting him for his recent comments calling some small town American's "bitter," and suggesting the Illinois senator is an effete politician unable to connect with a broad swath of Americans.

The comments, received enthusiastically by the large crowd in Louisville, Kentucky, are a likely sign Obama's words at a San Francisco fundraiser last month may be a major Republican talking-point should he capture the Democratic Party's nomination.

“You know in the age of Barack Obama I don’t know exactly what to call you, because after all, as he said, because we’re bitter and economically anxious, we ‘cling to our guns and we cling to our faith," Rove told the crowd to laughter and cheers.

"You probably didn't know you hunted out of economic anxiety, and if gas was a $1.50 a gallon, you probably wouldn't be hunting," he continued. “You probably thought you hunted because you enjoyed the outdoors and companionship with family and friends.”

Rove, largely credited with orchestrating campaign strategies that painted former Democratic nominees Al Gore and John Kerry as out of touch with small town Americans, also cited Obama's recent primary losses in Pennsylvania and West Virginia as evidence a large demographic is unwilling to vote for the presumptive Democratic nominee.

"We here have news for Barack Obama," Rove said. "The values of those people you diminished are the values of America. And those people don't like getting patronized, or viewed as an alien species, by a fellow who pretends to embody a new kind of politics, and especially by someone who wants to be president not of red states or blue states, but the United States."

Rove, who does not have an official role within John McCain's presidential campaign or at the Republican National Committee, also took Obama to task for recently wearing a flag pin.

"It is distracting to say in a Democratic primary when you are trying to cozy up to Moveon.org that an American flag on your lapel is a quote 'substitute' for true patriotism," Rove said. "Belittling all those who care to wear our country's flag, calling them false patriots, and then when you focus on the general election, like this week, start to showing up with an American flag on your lapel again. That's distracting."

Obama was asked last October why he normally does not wear a flag pin on his lapel, as many politicians do. The Illinois senator said then he wore one shortly after 9/11, but later decided to show his patriotism in other ways.

"After a while, you start noticing people wearing the lapel pin but not acting very patriotic,” he said then. “My attitude is that I'm less concerned with what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those ones who serve."

Rove says McCain needs open up more.

(CNN) - The man largely credited for organizing a campaign to defeat John McCain in 2000 now has some advice for the Arizona senator: Stop being so private.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former top Bush adviser Karl Rove called McCain "one of the most private individuals to run for president in history," and said the presumptive Republican nominee must reveal more about his unique life story in order to win the presidency.

"Private people like Mr. McCain are rare in politics for a reason," Rove writes. "Candidates who are uncomfortable sharing their interior lives limit their appeal. But if Mr. McCain is to win the election this fall, he has to open up."

Specifically, Rove says McCain should reveal more about his wartime heroics and days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He also says McCain should spend more time highlighting the fact he and his wife took in a sick Bangladeshi child in 1991, their adopted daughter Bridget.

"Mr. McCain cannot make this a biography-only campaign – but he can't afford to make it a biography-free campaign either," Rove writes. "Unless he opens up more, many voters will never know the experiences of his life that show his character, integrity and essential decency.

“There is something admirable in his resilience, but he needs to overcome it."

Rove is giving some free advice to Obama.

(CNN) - The man widely credited for President Bush's two electoral victories just can't stop giving advice to this year's Democratic presidential candidates.

Former top Bush aide Karl Rove addresses Barack Obama directly in his latest Newsweek column, telling the Illinois senator that his once-strong candidacy has gotten weaker and that "you're making mistakes and making people worry."

Rove, who has previously used his column space in Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal to dole out advice to the candidates, specifically says the Illinois senator's reaction to the uproar over his former pastor's remarks and his comments about some small town Americans has "reinforced the growing sense you don't share Middle America's values. He also cites Obama's comments about flag pins and his relationship with 1960's radical Bill Ayers as evidence Obama is out of touch with ordinary Americans.

But the longtime Republican political strategist offers Obama six suggestions for how he can reignite his presidential campaign, starting with shaking up his stump speech, which he says sounds "old and out of touch."

Rove also suggests Obama sharpen his repudiation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons, pledge to name specific Republicans to his administration, and spend more time back in the Senate to burnish his chops as legislator. Obama, Rove says, also needs to stop responding to Clinton's attacks and offer more concrete policy proposals.

"You have talent, intelligence and tapped into something powerful early in your campaign. But running for president is unlike anything you've ever done," Rove writes. "While you'll almost certainly win the nomination, Democrats are nervous about the fall. You've given them reasons to be.”

Rove left the White House in 2007.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A House committee Thursday asked former White House political adviser Karl Rove to testify about allegations that Bush administration officials pushed for federal prosecutions of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and other Democrats.

House Judiciary Committee leaders said it is "imperative" that Rove answer allegations that he pressed the Justice Department to investigate Siegelman, a Democrat who when indicted was preparing a rematch against Alabama's Republican governor in 2006.

"We look forward to scheduling an early date for your voluntary appearance," the committee's Democratic leaders wrote in a letter released Thursday.

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said Thursday that President Bush's onetime political mastermind "absolutely denies he was in any way involved in the decision to prosecute Don Siegelman." Luskin said he has had no direct communication the the Judiciary Committee's staff or its chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, and said the White House would have to decide whether Rove will be able to testify.

The probe grew out of the administration's controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006. The White House has invoked executive privilege to keep Rove from testifying to Congress in that case.

Siegelman was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in 2007 after his conviction on bribery, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and mail fraud charges. Prosecutors accused him of running a "pay-for-play" scheme in which he exchanged official acts and influence for cash, property and services while serving as Alabama's governor from 1999 to 2003.

A federal appeals court ordered Siegelman released on bond in March, and he is scheduled to appear before the Judiciary Committee in May as part of an investigation into allegations that the Bush administration tried to influence the prosecutions of political opponents.

A Thursday report by the committee's Democratic staff recounted what it said is "extensive evidence" that Siegelman's prosecution "was directed or promoted by Washington officials."

And it cited three other cases - including that of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, coroner Cyril Wecht, a prominent forensic pathologist and an outspoken Democrat. Wecht was charged with 84 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and theft in 2006, but the case was declared a mistrial earlier this month.

Rep. Lamar Smith, the committee's ranking Republican, called the staff report a rehash of "sensational allegations from unreliable witnesses and so-called academic studies." He said the Republican minority is still reviewing the document.

"Unfortunately, House Democrats are so intent on slandering the Bush administration that they willingly accept outlandish claims while questioning the honest work of career federal prosecutors," Smith, R-Texas, said in a written statement. "It may come as a surprise to some Democrats, but even Democratic office holders who have committed crimes must be held accountable.

Rove said Obama will be viewed by many as an elitist.

(CNN) - It was an issue that caused a stir last fall, and one that former Bush strategist Karl Rove predicts may plague Barack Obama in the general election.

In a newly-published interview with GQ magazine, Rove says Obama's reluctance to wear a flag pin on his lapel may translate as elitism to many blue collar democrats.

"There are Democrats, particularly blue-collar Democrats, who defect to McCain because they see McCain as a patriotic figure and they see Obama as an elitist who's looking down his nose at 'em, which he is," Rove told the magazine.

"That comment where he said, you know, 'After 9/11, I didn't wear a flag lapel pin because true patriotism consists of speaking out on the issues, not wearing a flag lapel pin?’ Well, to a lot of ordinary people, putting that flag lapel pin on is true patriotism. It's a statement of their patriotic love of the country. And for him to sit there and dismiss it as he did…" Rove added.

The Obama campaign declined to comment on Rove's remarks.

In early October, an Iowa reporter asked Obama why he was not wearing a flag pin on his lapel, as many politicians do. The Illinois senator said he wore one shortly after 9/11, but later decided to show his patriotism in other ways.

"After a while, you start noticing people wearing the lapel pin but not acting very patriotic,” he said then. “My attitude is that I'm less concerned with what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those ones who serve."

His Democratic rivals at the time dismissed it as a non-issue, but the comments were posted on several conservative blogs, and sparked several anonymous e-mails that questioned Obama's patriotism.

In the new interview with GQ, Rove suggested the comments were among those that showed Obama is "coolly detached and very arrogant."

"I think he's very smart and knows he's smart, but as a result doesn't do his homework," Rove also said.

In the wide ranging interview, Rove also praised Clinton's now-famous 3 a.m. as "gutsy."

"It was a gutsy, dangerous move - She figured out that she had to do something to raise the issue of: Is he fit to be president? And this was a way to do it," he said. "I happened to be in Texas a week before the ad popped, and all of her surrogates were hitting him pretty hard on the thinness of his experience. They were pretty brutal. And this ad sort of fed into that."

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Rove spoke at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee in January.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - On the sidelines during presidential campaign season for the first time this decade, former presidential adviser Karl Rove couldn't resist taking shots at Democratic frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama.

Rove focused his firepower on the Illinois senator at a speech to the Young America's Foundation in Washington, D.C. Friday night, barely mentioning his Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

President Bush's former chief strategist, who left the White House in 2007, pegged Obama as a do-nothing senator who talked big and achieved little. "What bills has he sponsored?" Rove asked.

The fact that some Democrats are still hoping that former Vice President Al Gore will bring the party together, said Rove, is a signal that the party is in disarray. "You know you got a problem if the answer is Al Gore," Rove said to laughter.

Rove expressed cautious optimism that a conservative would be in the White House come next January, telling the crowd "there's a long time until November."

–CNN's Jeff Simon and Jillian Harding

Rove spoke at the University of Iowa Sunday.

(CNN) - Former top Bush aide Karl Rove didn't get the friendliest of receptions at the University of Iowa Sunday, CNN affiliate KCRG reports.

Rove, who was paid $40,000 to speak at the University, was confronted with an at-times hostile crowd of 1,000, and was interrupted on several occasions.

At one point during the speech, Rove reportedly lashed out at some of the students, saying, "You got a chance to ask your questions later and make your stupid statements, let me make mine."

Police also were forced to remove two people after they tried to perform a citizen’s arrest on Rove for what they said were his crimes while a member of the Bush Administration.

At one point, a person asked Rove if he has ever shed a tear over the war in Iraq.

"I shed a lot of tears and I have been inspired by many of the people who feel their son or daughter should not have to die in vain," he replied.

Toward the end of the speech a member of the crowd yelled, "Can we have our $40,000 back?"

Rove replied, “No, you can't.”

Radio Iowa also reports one audience member told Rove that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann named him the "worst person ever."

"Ever?" Rove joked. "Yea, worse than Hitler, worse than Stalin, worse than Mao and worse than the person who introduced aluminum baseball bats."

Cameras were only allowed to film the beginning of the speech.

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Karl Rove took aim at Clinton and Obama Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Karl Rove dismissed Hillary Clinton’s Michigan primary win Wednesday, telling a group of Republican party leaders that her victory showed signs of weakness.

Clinton, the only major candidate to appear on the Democratic presidential primary ballot, received roughly 55 percent of the vote. About 40 percent of those voting in the primary opted for the “uncommitted” option, and 5 percent of the vote went to other candidates, including Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd and Mike Gravel.

“Think about that. She’s running against ‘nobody’ and ‘nobody’ gets 40 percent of the vote,” said Rove. “The other 5 percent of the vote went to three other people: 27,924 votes went to the guy who believes in UFOs, the guy who dropped out and the guy who last held public office somewhere around 1855.”

He also said the New York senator should release documents in the Clinton presidential library that relate to her time in the White House during the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

But the former adviser to President Bush didn’t reserve all his criticism for Hillary Clinton, taking aim at her chief Democratic rival, Barack Obama, as well. He echoed recent Clinton campaign criticism of the Illinois senator’s “present” votes as a state representative and doubts about his relative lack of national experience. He also blasted him for a voting record that he described as “more liberal” than Clinton’s – “and that’s hard to do.”

The political strategist also had some advice for the Republicans in the race. As soon as the party has a nominee, said Rove, the candidate will have to “introduce themselves to the American people,” focus on “kitchen table” domestic issues like jobs and healthcare, “campaign aggressively in places where Republicans don't usually campaign” (including efforts to reach black, Latino and union voters), and present a positive vision on Iraq and the surge.

–CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

Karl Rove had some tough words for Obama.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Karl Rove is getting tough on Barack Obama.

The man behind President Bush's two successful presidential bids, who once offered advice to Obama on how he could defeat Hillary Clinton, is now taking direct aim at him - calling the Illinois senator "lazy" and "given to misstatements and exaggerations."

"Mr. Obama has failed to rise to leadership on a single major issue in the Senate," Rove writes in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed. "In the Illinois legislature, he had a habit of ducking major issues, voting 'present' on bills important to many Democratic interest groups, like abortion-rights and gun-control advocates.

And in a rare move, Rove praises Clinton for her "humanizing" moments on the campaign trail, and calls Obama just "as calculating" as the New York Democrat.

"For someone who talks about a new, positive style of politics and pledges to be true to his word, Mr. Obama too often practices the old style of politics, saying one thing and doing another," he said.

The comments are the latest musings from the man often refereed to as "Bush's brain" on the Democratic race for the White House. In an "open letter" to Obama last month, Rove suggested he "Blow the whistle on Clinton when she tries to become a victim."

"Find a way to gently belittle her whenever she tries to use disagreements among Democrats as an excuse to complain about being picked on," he said then. "The toughest candidate in the field should not be able to complain when others disagree with her. This is not a coronation."

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Former top-Bush aide Karl Rove is offering Barack Obama some advice.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is getting advice from an unlikely source: former top Bush aide Karl Rove.

The man behind Bush's two presidential victories took to the pages of the Financial Times Sunday to offer the candidate some unsolicited suggestions on how to beat rival Hillary Clinton.

In an open memo to Obama, Rove said the Illinois senator currently appears "weak and ineffectual," and should start sharpening his attacks on the New York Democrat.

"Stop acting like a vitamin-deficient Adlai Stevenson," Rove writes in reference to another Illinois Democrat who twice ran for president and lost. "Striking a pose of being high-minded and too pure will not work. Americans want to see you scrapping and fighting for the job, not in a mean or ugly way but in a forceful and straightforward way."

Rove also suggests Obama exploit the "real doubts" many Democrats feel about Clinton, take clear stances on the issues, and better articulate the type of change he is hoping to represent.

Finally, Rove says Obama needs to decry what he calls Clinton's complaints that she is "being picked on."

"Find a way to gently belittle her whenever she tries to use disagreements among Democrats as an excuse to complain about being picked on," Rove writes. "The toughest candidate in the field should not be able to complain when others disagree with her. This is not a coronation."

"Blow the whistle on her when she tries to become a victim," he continues. "Do it with humor and a smile and it will sting even more."

Rove's memo comes the same day a new poll out of crucial early-voting state Iowa shows Obama seems to have taken a lead over Clinton, 28 percent to 25 percent. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is a close third at 23 percent. With the poll's 4.4 percent margin of error, the race in the Hawkeye State is a statistical dead heat.

Responding to the memo, a Clinton campaign spokesperson said, "Why is Karl Rove giving Sen. Obama advice on how to win? Could it be that he thinks it will be easier for Republicans to run against the unknown gentleman from Illinois?"

Politico's Jim VandeHei said it's more likely Rove is seeking publicity and wants to have a voice as the election unfolds.

"If you're a gambler you want to be at the table, and he very much wants to be part of this debate," VandeHei said.

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

President Bush comforted Rove as the two men announced his resignation in mid-August.

(CNN) - In an interview Monday, Chief Political Columnist for Slate.com, John Dickerson weighed in on Karl Rove’s Op-Ed piece in Newsweek magazine – calling the former top Bush aide a “mischief-maker.”

The article, “Hillary can be beaten in the 2008 election,” gives advice to the Republican candidates on how to move forward with their campaigns assuming New York Sen. Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination.

Rove who is often referred to as the ‘brains’ behind the Bush administration said, “The American people want their president to be authentic. And against a Democrat who calculates almost everything including her accent and laugh, being seen as someone who says what he believes in a direct way will help.”

Dickerson says Rove has a lot of “smarts whether you like him or not,” but adds the column shows how Rove continues to play the role of “mischief-maker.” He says the column repeatedly takes aim at Clinton. Rove also refers to the way she was characterized by a questioner at a John McCain event last week, while calling that description ‘tasteless.’

“The advice to be authentic, to talk about the future that’s […] the advice you learn to give candidates in political spin 101 but, his role as a mischief-maker came back in that ad,” Dickerson said.

The article is Karl Rove’s first column as a contributing opinion writer to Newsweek magazine.

Related video: Watch Dickerson discuss Rove

Related: Rove: Obama missing opportunities to knock Clinton

–CNN’s Emily Sherman

Rove says Obama is missing chances to knock Clinton off stride.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former top Bush aide Karl Rove said Thursday he thinks Sen. Barack Obama has missed key opportunities to knock rival Hillary Clinton off track.

In an interview with CSPAN, the man behind President Bush's two White House wins cited a recent debate in Philadelphia when Clinton was asked why more of her records as first lady have not yet been made public.

"He missed the opportunity," Rove explained. "If he had stood there and said, 'Senator, with all due respect, it is entirely within the power of you and your husband to immediately order the release of those documents. And your failure to do so reveals legitimate questions in the minds of the American people about what you might be hiding and it's not going to be good for the Democratic party or for you if you allow those questions to persist,' it would have been a moment, it would have been a big moment."

"Instead it was a vague and wandering around, and weak, and insipid," Rove continued. "There have been a number of occasions like that where a sharp and clear and respectful contrast would have created a moment."

Rove also said the Republicans will lose in 2008 unless they "articulate a positive agenda and a positive vision."

"Otherwise," Rove said, "The American people will say, 'You know what? I have got my doubts I have got my concerns and you haven't given me the confidence that I will do better with you.'"

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Karl Rove waved to staffers as he left the White House on Friday, his last day on President Bush's staff

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Karl Rove was nearly overcome with emotion Friday as colleagues privately paid tribute to the political adviser as he leaves the White House, senior officials say.

At the closed-door senior staff meeting at 7:30 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room, Rove was surprised with a slide show of photos chronicling his nearly seven years at President Bush's side, through good times and bad.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told CNN that Rove was so touched by the tribute that he didn't have any final words for his colleagues. "He was pretty choked up," Snow said.

Full story: Rove chokes up on final day at White House

Pranksters got Rove's Jaguar Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Even high level White House officials can't escape office gags during their last week of work.

Assistants to top Bush strategist Karl Rove - who officially steps down from his post Friday - covered his Jaguar with plastic wrap and multi-colored post-it notes Wednesday morning.

They also attached two stuffed eagles to the trunk and reportedly slapped on an "I Love Obama" sticker.

Rove is currently in New Orleans with the president, but White House spokesman Scott Stanzel confirmed he is aware of the office prank.

"When folks like you [the media] pay attention to it, he has a tendency to pay attention to it," said Stanzel. "Not much gets past Karl."

Rove/Cleland feud still brewing.

(CNN) - The bad blood between Bush political adviser Karl Rove and former Democratic Senator Max Cleland hasn't eased over the years. On CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Cleland responded to an attack by Rove with one statement: "You know he's lying when his lips are moving."

The feud heated up during Cleland's 2002 reelection campaign, where Cleland blamed Rove for ads showing his face after Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Cleland lost the Georgia election to Republican Saxby Chambliss. In an interview last weekend, Rove accused Cleland of publicly supporting the President's bill to form the Department of Homeland Security as he worked against it. Cleland says he co-sponsored alternate legislation.

– CNN Late Edition's Jennifer Burch

Joe Trippi says Karl Rove most fears John Edwards.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Many political watchers are wondering exactly why former top Bush aide Karl Rove has attacked New York Sen. Hillary Clinton so aggressively since he announced he was leaving the White House last week.

Well, Joe Trippi, one of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' top strategists, thinks he knows the answer: Rove "doesn't want John Edwards to win the Democratic nomination."

"Rove knows that Democrats will rally around whomever he attacks—so he attacks the candidate he thinks Republicans can most easily defeat," Trippi wrote to supporters in a fundraising e-mail. "It may seem backwards, but Rove and his cronies did the same thing last time around. In 2004, they were scared of John Edwards, so they attacked John Kerry."

"Rove is using his sneaky, underhanded tactics to try and trick Democrats into rallying around a candidate who won't be as strong as John in the general election," Trippi added.

Rove, who announced he is leaving his post at the White House at the end of the month, has repeatedly criticized Clinton, arguing her "high" disapproval numbers render her a "fatally flawed" candidate.

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Watch CNN's Suzanne Malveaux report how Rove is defending his White House record.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – White House political adviser Karl Rove denied Sunday he confirmed the identity of ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson for a 2003 newspaper column, but a reporter who testified in the leak probe called that "nonsense."

In comments to two Sunday talk shows, Rove disputed columnist and former CNN host Robert Novak's account of the leak. Novak, who disclosed Mrs. Wilson's identity in a July 2003 column, has said Rove confirmed her identity after another Bush administration official, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, first told him she worked for the CIA.

Rove told NBC's "Meet the Press" that, when Novak asked him about Mrs. Wilson, he told the columnist, "I've heard that, too." But he insisted that did not mean he had confirmed her identity.

"If a journalist had said to me, 'I'd like you to confirm this,' my answer would have been, 'I can't. I don't know. I've heard that, too,' " he said.

Mrs. Wilson's identity was disclosed shortly after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, challenged one of the claims underpinning the Bush administration's case for the U.S. invasion of Iraq - that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons from the African country of Niger. Wilson wrote that he had investigated the claim at the request of CIA officials and found it "highly doubtful" that any such transaction could have occurred, and he accused the Bush administration of having "twisted" the evidence for war.

Rove is leaving office at month's end after more than a dozen years as President Bush's top political adviser. He made multiple appearances before the grand jury that investigated Wilson's exposure, but was never charged with a crime in the leak; neither was Armitage, who also cooperated with the special prosecutor who led the probe.

But former Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper, who testified about his conversations with Rove in the grand jury probe, said Rove's account was "dissembling, to put it charitably."

"To imply that he didn't know about it or that this was all the leak by someone else, or he heard it as some rumor out in the hallway is, is nonsense," Cooper told NBC.

The Wilsons have accused Rove and other Bush administration officials of leaking her identity as a CIA officer in retaliation for her husband's emergence as a critic of the administration. A federal judge in Washington recently dismissed a lawsuit by the couple against Rove, Armitage, Vice President Dick Cheney and Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of obstructing justice and perjury in the probe.

Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison, but Bush commuted his term before he had served any time.

Rove said Mrs. Wilson was not an appropriate target for political reprisals, but told NBC he did not owe her an apology. And he said, contrary to the former ambassador's public statements, Wilson's report actually bolstered the disputed Iraq-Niger link.

"He brought back information about a previously unknown contact where the Iraqis, working through a third party, attempted to bring and did bring to Niger a trade delegation," Rove said. "And since the only thing Niger had to sell was uranium cake that was on a U.N. sanctions list, they declined to do any business."

After Wilson went public with his findings, then-CIA Director George Tenet said the Niger uranium claim should have been left out of President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech, delivered on the eve of war. Before the March 2003 invasion, U.N. weapons inspectors dismissed documents containing the claim as "obvious" forgeries.

After the invasion, Iraq was found to have dismantled its weapons programs under U.N. sanctions during the 1990s, though U.S. inspectors found scientists had concealed some weapons-related research from the United Nations.

Clinton said she feels 'lucky' to give Rove 'heartburn.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Senior White House aide Karl Rove has stepped up his attacks against Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and the New York Democrat said she couldn't be happier.

“I feel so lucky that I am now giving them such heartburn,” Clinton said Wednesday while campaigning in Iowa.

Clinton was referring to Rove's recent assertion on Rush Limbaugh's radio show that the New York senator was "fatally flawed," and would lose a general election match up because her negative favorability ratings are too high.

"She is going into the general election, depending on what poll you look at, with high 40s on the negative side and just below that on the positive side. There is nobody who has ever won the presidency who has started out in that position," said Rove, who is often referred to as "Bush's brain".

Clinton's campaign spokesman Phil Singer quickly took the opportunity to link Rove - one of the left's most despised figures - with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

"It sounds like Karl Rove is writing Sen. Obama's talking points," Singer told CNN.

Obama has repeatedly made the argument he can unite the country better the Clinton can. He told the Washington Post Tuesday, "I think it is fair to say that I believe I can bring the country together more effectively than [Clinton] can."

UPDATE: Responding to the Clinton campaign's comments, Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells CNN, "I just don’t think voters are looking for four more years of scorched earth politics from their White House."

 TIME.com: Rove's final retreat

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Rove sharply criticized Clinton Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – He may plan to take a break from presidential politics, but soon-to-be ex-White House aide Karl Rove isn't holding back when it comes to his critique of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

On conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh's show Wednesday, Rove predicted the New York Democrat would win her party's nomination but said she was "fatally flawed" and would ultimately lose the race for the White House.

"There is no frontrunner who has entered the primary season with negatives as high as she has in the history of modern polling," said Rove, who announced Tuesday he was resigning his White House post. (Listen to Rove's comments on Bush, Clinton)

"She is going into the general election, depending on what poll you look at, with high forties on the negative side and just below that on the positive side. There is nobody who has ever won the presidency who has started out in that position," the man also known as "Bush's brain" added. (Related: Clinton happy to give Rove 'heartburn')

Rove also fired back at Clinton's recent campaign ad in which the former First Lady states, "If you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, you are invisible to this president."

"I am a little surprised she jumped out there and made such an accusation when she has a record so spotty and poor on health care issues," he said.

Phil Singer, a Clinton spokesman, brushed aside Rove's critique of her favorability numbers, saying, "It sounds like Karl Rove is writing Sen. Obama's talking points."

"The reality is that as the campaign now gets under way, Sen. Clinton's ratings are improving because Americans are seeing that she has the strength and experience to deliver change," he added.

TIME.com: Rove's final retreat 

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Could Karl Rove become the architect of a kinder, gentler politics?

WASHINGTON (CNN) - David Gergen, a former White adviser to several presidents, ponders What Karl Rove's ultimate legacy will be over at the Anderson Copper 360 Blog.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards wasted few words in reacting to the announcement that President Bush's top political advisor, Karl Rove, is resigning at the end of the month.

“Goodbye, good riddance,” Edwards said succinctly in a statement released Monday.

– CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich

Watch CNN's John King on Rove's political future.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Top Bush aide Karl Rove may be set to resign his White House post by the end of August, but CNN Chief National Correspondent John King reports the man known as the "Architect" is likely to play an influential role in the 2008 presidential election.

"I would not be surprised at all, and I would predict on this day that he will indeed have a voice in the '08 presidential election," said King Monday on CNN.

Rove "very much wants to help the party steer its course in the '08 presidential election,” according to two close Rove friends who spoke to King.

But the friends insist Rove has not chosen a particular candidate to back and will likely wait until the field clarifies itself before assuming any type of role.

The question remains whether Rove's playbook of appealing to base voters will be followed in 2008. The strategy produced two presidential victories in 2000 and 2004, but after a bruising loss in 2006, some Republicans think it’s time to break from his strategy and target moderate voters more, King added.

Watch CNN's Suzanne Malveaux report on why Rove decided to resign his post.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said in a statement released Monday that longtime Bush advisor and White House aide Karl Rove has “acted as if he was above the law.”

Leahy, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is leading the congressional investigation of the Bush administration’s firing of several U.S. attorneys. Leahy’s committee subpoenaed Rove as part of its investigation, but the White House refused to let Rove testify, instead asserting a claim of executive privilege for Rove’s communications with President Bush.

“I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide,” Leahy said in his statement.

After vowing to continue the investigation into the U.S. attorney firings, Leahy also said Monday that “there is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelopes Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House.”

– CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart