Rove's Eye Will Be On FISA Vote

By Daniel W. Reilly

(The Politico) 

Take note, Democratic presidential operatives: Karl Rove will be very carefully watching the Senate floor vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Addressing the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting Wednesday, Rove urged the party faithful to watch closely how the Democratic presidential front-runners, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, vote on the issue.

“Do they or do they not want our intelligence agencies to be listening in on conversations between terrorists in the Middle East who may be plotting to hurt America?” Rove asked.

A former top adviser to President Bush, Rove is still seen as perhaps the pre-eminent Republican electoral strategist, with Beltway insiders hanging on his every word. And while “The Architect,” as Bush calls him, used most of his speech to attack Clinton’s and Obama’s record on health care, taxes and the war in Iraq, Rove particularly homed in on FISA.