With Rove gone, who is going to delete all the incriminating emails?

What Comes Next ? No one believes that Rove has retired. "Bush knows my phone number " is a crock. Karl will continue to be just as active with his brand of criminal political maneuvers, except that it will soon be undercover and away from the high visibility of the White House. One of the right wing think tanks ? The RNC ? Promoting fradulent voting activity across the US in 2007/2008 ? Who knows. But he will certainly continue to do the only thing he knows how to do since he was a College Republican and an aid to Lee Atwater, intent on corrupting the American politcal system. Karl is not going away, he's just changed the venue of his horror show.

What Comes Next ? No one believes that Rove has retired. "Bush knows my phone number " is a crock. Karl will continue to be just as active with his brand of criminal political maneuvers, except that it will soon be undercover and away from the high visibility of the White House. One of the right wing think tanks ? The RNC ? Promoting fradulent voting activity across the US in 2007/2008 ? Who knows. But he will certainly continue to do the only thing he knows how to do since he was a College Republican and an aid to Lee Atwater, intent on corrupting the American politcal system. Karl is not going away, he's just changed the venue of his horror show.

Seriously.

...it has to be Fred Thompson. Thompson's campaign (as it were) is about to approach the "poop or get off the pot" phase of the election cycle and I wouldn't be surprised if "poop" is the answer and "Turd Blossom" is the answerer.

Think about it. Thompson is Rove's kind of candidate: vaguely folksy, not detail oriented, a political blank slate (for the most part) and southern. He's like Bush without all the stupid.

Rove gets to run another national campaign (something he actually enjoys) and if he wins, he will become the GOP "Kingmaker". All pols with national ambition will have to genuflect to him for the next 30 years if they want to run with an "(R)" next to their name.

Me? I'm rooting for testicle cancer, but then I'm poetic that way.

I realize this is hardly definitive, but I have another theory as to why Rove's leaving any why with the big send-off. Perhaps the send-off was an honorific to one of Bush's favorites, making him important by making his departure the story for the week. The reason for leaving was hinted at in stories mentioning he might write a book. It occurs to me that while he can only play defense while working for Bush, he's at his peak in terms of getting a big advance from a publisher. Once Bush goes and legitimately elected --- oops, was that my outside voice? --- president is getting the attention, Rove's price goes down, so he's cashing in. If he gets that book cranked out now, he can do the interview circuit during the next campaign, or maybe be done in time to participate in the campaign.

Ever heard the phrase, "the rats are the first to abandon a sinking ship"? Bush is a lame duck, there is nothing more Rove can do for him so he may as well move on to help the next incompetent loser who isn't fit to run a hardware store get elected. To be fair, the failure of his permanent republican majority was more or less out of his hands. It was the result of the failure of the Iraq war, Rove only cared about his guy and his party, I would be surprised if he had any real opinions on the war one way or the other. Thank Don Rumsfeld for the failure of the permanent republican majority.

As for his Hillary bashing, that is just him doing his job. A good republican is always "on". I expect he'll turn up in the Guilliani camp sometime next year.

the same exit that Rumsfield did? An office down the street from his old one where he can spend the next few months shredding documents and using black sharpies to ensure his version of history is the only one we're privy to?

I'm also from Ohio, unfortunately smack in the middle of that remaining Republican stronghold in Southwest Ohio (Hamilton, Warren and Butler Counties). To be precise, Cincinnati proper has a true Democratic majority, but the shrunken city itself is outweighed by the surrounding suburban communities of Hamilton Co. Small quibble, perhaps, but worth pointing out.

Also, the horrible Jean Schmidt nearly lost to relatively unknown Democrats twice recently -- so there IS hope for the suburbs of Cincinnati.

Ohio as a whole probably can't yet be called a Democratic stronghold, though -- just look at our state General Assembly, still firmly held by Republican majorities. Now, of course, we do have a very popular Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, and nearly enough other Democrats in high office to control Congressional redistricting -- but not quite.

Ohio is on the cusp of swinging Democratic again, as it was as recently as 20 years ago. Bush fatigue will provide the final push, if we're lucky.

I think that Hilary Clinton's "fatal flaw" is that she's Hilary "Clinton". She is the one candidate that might be able to draw every right winger out of their enraged "I'm not going to vote" stupor and get them to the polls to vote against her (and any down-ticket Democrats who happen to be running at the time). It has nothing to do with her qualifications, but the right has been demonizing the name Clinton for over a decade and hating it is a pavlovian response. They hate her as much as her husband.

That said, it could just be a mind game Rove is playing with us. It's hard to know when somebody who is a compulsive liar is telling the truth.

Hillary Clinton is ... fatally flawed...

But how? He doesn't say. Sen. Clinton is at or near the front and likely to be the Democratic nominee. She will have a lot of money, known experience in the WH, allies in the Congress, a first rate partner who is outstanding at running a campaign and a country as well as popular all over the world, and the electorate will have nostalgic memories for how the first Clinton Administration performed compared to its successor.

The Republican nominee will have to contend with that. None of those potential nominees have the experience or credentials to compare to Sen. Clinton.

But Rove has a proven track record of getting a Republican of any level of (in)competence into the WH. Winning campaigns is what he is good at. It may be the only thing he can do. And the Current Occupant is not looking to win any elections any time soon. (Unless he wants to be the Commissioner of Baseball, and even then he gets appointed by the owners.)

Also, Rove has "The Math" as he claimed to the NPR interviewer. Rove can claim to have the secret incantations to beat Clinton, and the current crop of Republican wannabees will believe it. (They are good on believing fantasies, especially those they want to believe in.)

So perhaps Rove is angling to be the campaign chief for the next Republican candidate. Let's not forget that his main goal has always been to establish a long-term Republican majority if not a one-party state. Maybe he's going back home to Texas to start planning the Republican campaign. And he wants Sen. Clinton to win, because he's got a plan to smear her.

Just a thought.