Karl Rove's sly deal with Fox

The GOP mastermind is billed as a top campaign analyst for the cable news network. But he has his fingerprints all over John McCain's White House bid.

By Amanda Terkel and Matt Corley

Read more: Republican Party, John McCain, James Carville, CNN, Fox News, Opinion, Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, 2008 election

Salon composite

Karl Rove

May 20, 2008 | It has now been more than three months since Karl Rove first appeared on television as a Fox News political analyst on Feb 5. In no fewer than 57 appearances, he has increasingly been welcomed into the Fox News fraternity, even joking that the "Hannity & Colmes" show should be renamed the "Colmes & Rove" show. After departing from a Bush administration in political tatters last August, he has reemerged to hold forth at length on the 2008 presidential race. And he may have plenty of seasoned political wisdom to offer Fox's audience. Rove, however, is playing a strategic role that he and the network refuse to reveal to viewers.

Fox News hosts routinely introduce Rove as a "former senior advisor to President Bush," "the architect," a "political wizard" and a "famed political consultant." But never has he been introduced as he should be -- as an informal advisor and maxed-out donor to John McCain's presidential campaign.

To political news junkies, a disclosure of Rove's relationship to the McCain campaign may seem unnecessary. But whether the public simply assumes that Rove supports McCain isn't the point. The "most influential pundit" in America, as Fox likes to trumpet, should have to play by the same rules as other high-profile political analysts. For example, Paul Begala and James Carville are regularly identified as supporters of Hillary Clinton when they appear on CNN. But Rove has been able to act as an independent observer while criticizing Clinton and Barack Obama, McCain's likely general election opponent.

There is nothing shocking about Rove's attacking Democrats, of course. And his operating with a duplicitous air of independence probably isn't going to make or break Fox's claim to "fair and balanced" coverage. But will the greater public catch on?

In a May 7 Washington Post online chat with Karl Rove, the news organization correctly introduced the pundit as an "informal advisor to the McCain campaign." The Post's media reporter, Howard Kurtz, has also endorsed disclosing that Rove is a "maxed-out donor" to McCain.

And with good reason. On Feb. 7, two days after Rove first appeared on Fox News as a contributor, he donated $2,300, the maximum legal amount, to McCain's campaign. According to the New York Times, Rove's donation was part of a symbolic effort by Bush's allies "to unify the Republican Party behind its presumptive nominee."

The next day, reporters from Fox News asked McCain if he would accept advice from Rove. McCain responded enthusiastically: "He has a very good, great political mind and any information or advice and counsel he could give us I would be glad to have."

A month later, after Rove had made 14 appearances on Fox News, Politico reported that soon after donating to McCain's campaign, Rove "had a private conversation with the senator." A top McCain advisor also told the paper that Rove and Bush-Cheney '04 campaign manager Ken Mehlman were "informally advising the campaign."

Rove has denied that he is an informal advisor, telling Kurtz that "he merely has 'chitchat' with friends in the campaign." He offered a similar line during a recent Washington Post online chat, telling a questioner that he is "not certain" that he qualifies as an advisor to McCain but still has "friends at the campaign who occasionally ask [him] for reactions."

"I hardly think Fox News viewers would be surprised to learn that Karl Rove is helping the Republican presidential candidate," Begala told Salon. "Still, I believe full disclosure is best."

There's no evidence that Rove has a formal role with the McCain campaign. However, it is hard to deny that he has an active, if informal relationship.

For example, the consulting firm he currently heads has been disseminating 2008 electoral map projections to influential media outlets and party operatives. In late March, McCain media advisor Mark McKinnon participated in a public conversation about the campaign with former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd. During the talk, McKinnon displayed maps analyzing the states and their electoral votes; the maps bore the header "Karl Rove & Co." At the end of April, the Washington Times reported that such maps were compiled weekly by Karl Rove & Co., based on the latest state polls. In addition to McKinnon and the Washington Times, the maps have made their way into the hands of Fox News' own Chris Wallace. (Just yesterday, Rove's firm put out a new round of maps making a case in Hillary Clinton's favor.)

There are other ways in which Rove appears to have influenced McCain's campaign. At the beginning of April, McCain embarked on a biography tour to introduce himself to the public. According to the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, the tour may have been Rove's idea. In an April 4 blog post, Ambinder noted that Rove had laid out the idea for such a tour during a Feb. 20 appearance at the University of Pennsylvania. Suggesting that McCain "should take a biographical tour to the places in the country that have made him who he is," Rove proceeded to list the very locations that McCain would eventually visit in April. (Although, as Ambinder pointed out, McCain actually spoke in Prescott, Ariz., rather than Rove's suggested Sedona, Ariz.).

Rove has also admitted to meeting with Sen. McCain recently. On April 22, while doing on-air coverage of the Pennsylvania primary for Fox News, Rove let slip that he "saw Senator McCain recently at a private gathering" where the general election campaign was discussed.

Next page: Said one GOP consultant recently of Rove and right-wing campaign groups: "Karl is up to his eyeballs in this"