But the friendship could be tested in the weeks ahead. Rove is in a war he didn’t expect–not only with McCain, but with critics of his stewardship of the Bush campaign. “We’re doing fine,” Rove said. “Everybody’s calm.” But outside the “Iron Triangle” of Bush’s closest aides, it’s a different story. Out loud, and sotto voce, GOP critics accuse Bush’s Austin-based team of a multitude of misjudgments: being too blase about New Hampshire, overscripting their candidate, muddying his message. Like nervous venture capitalists, the Republican establishment is searching for someone to blame if the IPO goes sour–and they don’t (yet) want to blame the candidate. “They haven’t run a good campaign so far,” said former New Hampshire governor John Sununu. A top GOP lobbyist in Washington had a broader concern: “They know Texas, but are they ready for prime time?”
Rove has been preparing to run a Bush for president since 1973, when Rove was chairman of the College Republicans. That year he met Dubya and his father, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee. Rove and another young aide, a South Carolinian named Lee Atwater, became Bush family liegemen. But it was Atwater who went on to manage Bush the elder’s win in 1988–and to become the symbol of a new “oppo”-driven type of campaign. (Atwater died in 1991.)
Rove, meanwhile, had gone to Texas to build the GOP there and, eventually, to manage Dubya’s gubernatorial campaigns. They were upbeat and benign, with no primary opposition. Bush barely mentioned his foes. Now, in Atwater’s South Carolina, Bush has no choice but to attack–a war hero, no less. It’s a nightmarish task that even Atwater would have dreaded. But it’s too late for Rove–and his old friend–to turn back now.
