Karl "Win At All Costs" Rove

Karl Rove "seems to understand—indeed, to count on—the media's unwillingness or inability, whether from squeamishness, laziness, or professional caution, ever to give a full estimate of him or his work." Nasty, dirty campaigns, lots of money, smears, whispers, code-words, and dirty tricks - these are Karl Rove's secrets to winning.

One example of his nature is a state supreme court judge who managed to squeeze out a win but later left office because of Rove's national smear campaign and a Rove spread off-the-record lie that he was a homosexual pedophile.

GOP MALFEASANCE: This week, explosive new evidence emerged of direct ties between the RNC and a Republican consulting firm being investigated by Oregon and Nevada for perpetrating widespread voter fraud. Sproul & Associates, paid $500,000 by the Republican National Committee, created a voter registration front group in several states. Some of the canvassers the company hired say they were told they wouldn't be paid for registering Democrats. Employees in the two western states have accused the firm of destroying, dumping or shredding the forms of Democrats who thought they were registered to vote. Also, an employee in West Virginia quit after she was told to only register individuals who would confirm they were planning to vote for President Bush. The head of Sproul & Associates, Nathan Sproul, has long ties to the GOP: he was the former executive director of the Arizona Republican Committee. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) have asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to launch an immediate investigation on the federal level. (The New Yorker provides a look at how Ashcroft's Justice Department itself has politicized the voting process.)

GOP Block The Vote Campaigns As the election gets closer, the Republican Party has turned to voter suppression efforts to try to sway the election, by keeping voters "off of the rolls and away from the polls." Paul Krugman has the latest rundown on Republican efforts to block the vote.

Karl Rove forced to testify in Plame Game.