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Monday, December 11, 2006

Dowd Sitting Out ‘08

By Ken Herman | Monday, December 11, 2006, 07:42 PM

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Longtime Bush adviser Matthew Dowd says he’s made up his mind whose team he will be on in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Nobody’s.

“Nope,” he said Monday when asked if he will be working for any ‘08 candidate. “Staying out of it.”

Dowd, left, is shown above enjoying a fine cigar after the 2004 Bush-Kerry debate in Coral Gables, Florida. On the right is Mark McKinnon, a longtime Bush adviser who has signed on with Arizona Sen. John McCain’s expected bid for the White House in 2008.

Dowd was a top adviser in the 2000 Bush presidential campaign and served as chief and oft-quoted strategist in the 2004 re-election. Between the elections he was a senior adviser to the Republican National Committee, using his polling expertise to help the party.

He’s made good on a vow to move back to Austin, where he a founding partner of ViaNovo, a communications consulting firm that also has offices in DC, Dallas and Monterrey, Mexico.

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Not gonna happen

By Ken Herman | Monday, December 11, 2006, 10:56 AM

The White House, in no uncertain terms, today worked to tamp down a report that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki may be on his way out.

An Associated Press version of the report said major partners in the governing coalition are working to oust Maliki, who they perceive as ineffective and unable to quell sectarian violence.

“There’s no move afoot to dump him,” said White House spokesman Tony Snow, adding that the report “stitched together unrelated threads.”

“It’s not a correct story,” Snow concluded before heading off to accompany Bush to the State Department for a meeting about a revised Iraq strategy.

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