He claimed that he had a racial awakening at the age of 9 by reading a LIFE magazine article about an African-American man was scarred physically and mentally by trying to make himself look more white. LIFE magazine and Ebony magazine never published such an article.
Senator Obama said, I didn't have much of a relationship with Rezko. He didn't raise me much money. This is the guy under indictment in Chicago. We didn't have a very serious relationship. And then refused to give interviews to The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times to answer their questions.
Well, when the Reverend Williams (ph) story broke, when there was all that bad news about Reverend Williams (ph), Senator Obama called up on a Friday, the same day that the Williams (ph) stuff was boiling hot, called up The Sun-Times and The Trib, and said, I'll give you those interviews now about Rezko, in which he said, yes I had a deeper, longer, more significant relationship with him.
He raised me a lot more money and the real estate deal was just as stinky as you thought it was, but nobody in America -- or very few people in America saw that because those stories ran at a time when our focus was on something else, Reverend Wright and his extreme comments.
Rove also had a suggestion for Florida and Michigan. It helps Obama.
He has just appointed 25 Dean loyalists to the what will ultimately be a 186- member credentials committee. The other 161 delegates who will sit on this committee will be chosen in June. They will be apportioned out between the principal presidential candidates on the basis of a percentage of the delegates or a percentage of the votes that they have won at that point.
But Dean signaled clearly by picking 25 loyalists, and they are clearly Dean loyalists, that he intends to have a majority of this committee that will back him up on what he decides on Florida and Michigan.
And so far, he has been very tough and very stubborn and very firm, no delegates at all, which is a big problem for the Democrats. I mean, these are 44 electoral votes in two battleground states that are going to be very tough for the Democrats in the fall if this sticks.
VAN SUSTEREN: What would be the most effective strategy for Senator Clinton and Senator Obama in dealing with Dean since he obviously -- you know, he holds the money on this?
ROVE: Well, for Senator Clinton, it is to say every state needs to be included and every state's vote needs to be respected. I actually think Senator Obama has the capacity to resolve this situation in a way that gives him a big advantage, but it would have to be a gutsy call.
And that is, at some point, probably in June, after the delegates have all been elected, we have our final caucus -- I mean our final primary in Puerto Rico, it would be a gutsy call if Senator Obama stepped forward and said, I want to seat Florida and I want to seat Michigan. I know they did the wrong thing, but we did the wrong -- but we should not compound our error by not seating them. Seat the entire delegations.
Now, if he is ahead by 100 to 150 votes at that point, by my calculations, she picks up 54 delegates on him if these two delegations are seated, and it -- but it is a gutsy call. And he -- you know, if he is 150 ahead, he suddenly becomes 100 ahead. If he is 100 ahead, he suddenly becomes 50 ahead.
But I think it gives him -- it makes him look like a leader. It resolves the situation. It helps him in the fall in these two states. And it probably gets a lot of the superdelegates to step forward and say, that was a courageous move, and I am going to support him as a result of him doing this.
If Obama takes his advice, will he credit Karl Rove?
