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[dzika]

In Preview of G.O.P. Campaign, Rove Tears Into Democrats

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, gave nervous Republicans here a preview of the party's strategy to maintain its dominance in the fall elections today, assailing Democrats for their positions on terrorism, the White House eavesdropping program and Mr. Bush's attempt to shape the federal judiciary.

For 26 minutes, after calling for civility in politics in a packed speech before the Republican National Committee, Mr. Rove offered a lacerating attack on Democrats that other Republicans said was a road map for how the party would deal with a tough electoral environment. Mr. Rove sharply criticized Democrats for their opposition to tax cuts and Mr. Bush's Supreme Court nominations, but he left little doubt that once again - as has been the case in both national elections since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - that he was intent on making national security the pre-eminent issue in 2006.

Mr. Rove speeches this early in an election year have proved to be accurate predictors of what Republican candidates would say in the fall, and thus every seat in the ballroom at a downtown Washington hotel was filled. He lacerated Democrats for what he described their "cut and run" policy on Iraq, for blocking a renewal of the broad antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, and for challenging the legality of the administration's widespread use of warrantless wiretaps in the face of widespread criticism.

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Mr. Rove was mostly optimistic about his party's prospects at a meeting in which some Republicans have expressed concern about the political environment Republican candidates might be running in, pointing to the war in Iraq, high gas prices and the investigations. "The G.O.P.'s progress during the last four years is a stunning political achievement," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/politics/20cnd-rove.html?hp&ex=1137819600&en=2aca7f5b75599a5c&ei=5094&partner=homepage