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Karl Rove Advising Hillary Challenger John Spencer
Top Bush political advisor Karl Rove is getting behind the campaign to unseat Sen. Hillary Clinton, with a top Rove aid meeting personally on Wednesday with Clinton's challenger, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer. In a development that could shake up the New York Senate race, the New York Post reports that senior Rove aid Sara Taylor hosted Spencer for a White House strategy session. Spencer advisor Kevin Collins told the Post that while Taylor did not promise direct financial assistance, it is expected that "big name Republicans" will come to New York and raise campaign cash for Spencer. Collins said that Rove's office reached out to the Vietnam combat veteran last week to ask for a statement in support of the Iraq war.
Story Continues Below With the New York State Republican party in disarray, news that the architect of President Bush's political success is now helping Spencer is a major shot in the arm for conservatives who had feared a second term coronation for Mrs. Clinton, which would serve as a springboard for a 2008 presidential bid. But Rove's involvement makes sense on another level as well. While Mrs. Clinton's previous challenger, Jeanine Pirro, seldom attacked her on anything but Hillary's presidential ambitions - Spencer has been blasting both Clintons for being soft on terrorism. In an exclusive interview in this month's NewsMax magazine, Spencer charged that Mrs. Clinton's record on terrorism "displays weakness." "And I believe these liberal Democrats, like Hillary, are harmful to our nation," he added. The Yonkers Republican said that record includes her husband's performance as president. "I will take on the Clinton presidency," Spencer vowed. "Sept. 11 didn't happen overnight. There was a build-up to that day throughout the 1990s." Spencer told NewsMax that "distractions out of the Clinton White House" kept the nation preoccupied with scandal while Osama bin Laden and company plotted history's most deadly terrorist attack. "All of that led up to the fact that we were a weak nation," he added. "And our enemies knew it." Spencer's message echos the kind of criticism that Rove has been leveling against the Democratic Party as a whole. Two weeks ago, for instance, the top Bush strategist blasted Democrats for having "a pre-9/11 worldview." On Wednesday, before news that Rove was advising Spencer broke, Mrs. Clinton blasted Rove's comments - charging that the White House was playing "the fear card." "I take a backseat to nobody when it comes to fighting terrorism and standing up for national homeland security," Hillary railed. She also blamed the White House for not yet taking out Osama bin Laden, saying: "You cannot explain to me why we have not captured or killed the tallest man in Afghanistan."
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Inside Cover Stories
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