Bush, Rove still brimming with confidence

WASHINGTON — Amid widespread panic in the Republican establishment about the coming midterm elections, there are two people whose confidence about GOP prospects strikes even their closest allies as almost inexplicably upbeat: President Bush and his top political adviser, Karl Rove.

Some Republicans on Capitol Hill are bracing for losses of 25 House seats or more. But party operatives say Rove is predicting that, at worst, Republicans will lose only eight to 10 seats — shy of the 15-seat threshold that would cede control to Democrats for the first time since the 1994 elections and would likely hobble the balance of Bush's second term.

In the Senate, Rove and associates believe, a Democratic victory would require the opposition to "run the table," as one official put it, to pick up the necessary six seats, a prospect the White House seems to regard as nearly inconceivable.

The Mark Foley page scandal and its fallout has many Republicans panicked, but Rove professes to be taking it in stride. "The data we are seeing from individual races and the national polls would tend to indicate that people can divorce Foley's personal action from the party," he said in a brief interview Thursday.

The official White House line of supreme self-assurance comes from the top down. Bush has publicly and privately banished any talk of losing the GOP majorities, in part to squelch any loss of nerve among his legions. Come January, he said last week, "We'll have a Republican speaker and a Republican leader of the Senate."

The question is whether this is a case of justified confidence — based on Bush's and Roves' electoral record and knowledge of the money, technology and other assets at their command — or of self-delusion. Even many Republicans suspect the latter. Three GOP strategists with close ties to the White House flatly predicted the loss of the House, though they would not do so on the record for fear of offending senior Bush aides.

At this point in the 2002 and 2004 election cycles, Bush was on the offensive, racing around the country and providing public lifts to many candidates. This year is mostly about defense. Bush lately has been stumping for vulnerable House Republicans who, only a few weeks ago, seemed safe for re-election. Meanwhile, Bush's unpopularity has made House and Senate campaigns think twice about using him.

"You have to be careful where you take him," said an adviser to a GOP candidate in a close Senate race. In the past, this source said, the White House usually dictated where the president went. "They are probably more cooperative. They will go into the places and formats we suggest," he added.