Who will be the next Karl Rove?
Even Rove, by his own estimation, isn’t Karl Rove. Or at least not the mythical guru the media has concocted. Still, the hunt is on: Which one of the dozens of strategists advising 2008 presidential hopefuls will be the next boy, or girl, genius?
Here’s a look at some prospects allied with the current frontrunners, in addition to David Axelrod:
Hillary Clinton is relying on seasoned veterans of her husband’s White House campaigns, including Mandy Grunwald, Mark Penn, Harold Ickes, and Ann Lewis. But the real mastermind in Camp Clinton is an unpaid adviser, who also happens to be her husband.
As he did in 2004, John Edwards has turned to Nick Baldick, a longtime operative who ran Al Gore’s New Hampshire campaign in 2000, to focus on early states like Iowa and Nevada. Also on board again: Jonathan Prince, David Ginsberg, and David Madina.
Rudy Giuliani is being advised by Tony Carbonetti, who started working with Giuliani during his first campaign for New York mayor in 1989, and Mike DuHaime, his campaign manager, who managed northeast operations for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004 and the Republican National Committee in 2006.
Mitt Romney’s two main gurus are Beth Myers, his closest aide and former chief of staff in Massachusetts – who is also a Rove acolyte from Texas – and Alex Castellanos, a well-regarded media consultant who has been busy crafting Romney’s image to conservatives.
The inner circle of Fred Thompson’s late-starting campaign is still taking shape. But so far it’s being guided largely by his wife Jeri, a former RNC aide, and Mark Corallo, a longtime GOP press aide with ties to Washington’s media elite.
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