GOP Strategists: Libby Case Is A Loser For The Party

Even as top Republicans are pressing President Bush to pardon former top vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby for his conviction and sentencing in the CIA leak investigation, many party leaders and strategists say the whole case is a loser for the party.

"It's just another nail in the Republican coffin," says GOP pollster and message guru Frank Luntz. "It makes the chances of winning back Congress bleak," he said, adding that it comes in advance of widely expected indictments against up to four GOP congressmen on unrelated charges.

A key congressional Republican leadership official said the scandal mostly hurts the White House and reinforces the view among most voters and even many GOP lawmakers that the administration is on its last legs. A Democratic official said that the case helps to undermine the administration's bid to restore the GOP's image and the president's trustworthiness.

"To the extent that anyone has approval ratings worse than a used car salesman--and is impervious to that fact--Vice President Cheney has the most to lose," said the Democrat. Still, GOP officials are urging the vice president to press the president for a pardon, an issue the White House says it won't consider until after Libby runs out of appeals.

By Paul Bedard