The Hornet Tribune

Issue date: 8/25/07 Section: Horizons

President George W. Bush watches as first lady Laura Bush hugs Karl Rove after the president and Rove appered before reporters during a news conference announcing Rove's resignation, Monday, Aug. 13, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Chuck Kennedy/MCT)

WASHINGTON _ With his boss standing by his side, an emotional Karl Rove said Monday that he's stepping down as President Bush's senior political strategist, while promising Bush that he'll remain "a fierce and committed advocate on the outside."

The departure _ effective at the end of the month _ leaves Bush facing the loss of his most trusted political adviser as he heads into the final year and a half of his presidency. The two men have been friends for three decades and politically inseparable for at least 14 years.

Rove, widely credited with Bush's 2000 presidential victory and subsequent re-election, said he's leaving to spend more time with his family. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., questioned the timing of the decision while Congress is demanding Rove's testimony in its investigation into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

"Now that he is leaving the White House while under subpoena, I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide," Leahy said.

Bush and Rove appeared before reporters on the South Lawn of the White House to discuss the decision, then embraced afterward. Rove earlier announced his intentions in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

"It's been an exhilarating and eventful time," Rove told Bush. "Through it all, you've been the same man."

"Karl is moving on down the road," Bush said, calling Rove a "dear friend." The president, who leaves office in January 2009, told his longtime aide, "I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit."

Rove's impending exit from the administration is the latest in a series of high-profile departures and a further signal that Bush's two-term presidency is winding down amid growing unpopularity over the Iraq war and other controversial policy decisions.

Like his boss, Rove has also lost much of his early first-term luster after forging a reputation as a political architect with a Midas touch, credited not only with Bush's 2000 presidential triumph but Bush's hard-fought second term re-election victory against Democrat John Kerry.

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