Report: Rove Presses Billionaires to Bankroll Defeating Obama
Political strategist Karl Rove convened an exclusive breakfast fundraising mission on the GOP convention's final day, imploring well-heeled donors to pour millions of dollars into his super PAC to unseat President Obama and other Democrats, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
President George W. Bush's former political adviser also made the case for key House and Senate races. In particular, he said that Republicans should press Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. -- who lost his party’s support after his controversial comment about “legitimate” rape -- to drop out of his race against Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., arguing that any other GOP candidate would be better.
“We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts,” Rove was quoted as saying.
Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, bolstered by Rove’s pitch, told the wealthy backers in attendance that helping the super PAC American Crossroads raise another $100 million to reach its $300 million goal was tantamount to giving to that “charity hospital” or a “big not-for-profit cancer research program that you give to.”
Rove said in the article that the goal was to attract voters who previously supported Barack Obama, saying the way to do it was by being respectful, rather than nasty, which could tip voters to become defensive.
“We have to keep in mind whose vote we’re trying to get—it ain’t the delegate from Alaska. It’s not the alternate from Alabama. It’s some undecided voter in the battleground state who likes the president,” he was quoted as saying.
