By NICHOLAS M. HORROCK and PETER ROFF, United Press International Published 8:53 p.m. PDT Friday, June 21, 2002
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Washington was swirling Friday with speculation about major job changes at the White House, from Chief of Staff Andrew Card leaving to whether Office of Management and Budget director Mitch Daniels will run for the governorship of Indiana.
All this speculation is normal as an administration enters its second year in office, but this year it has come early and intensely, driven by three extraordinary occurrences in the past several weeks.
First, Karen Hughes, unequivocally President George W. Bush's closest and most influential aide, abruptly announced she was going back to Texas after 15 months in the White House. She and the administration have persuaded Washington that her decision arose from real concern for her husband and son, but the impact of her departure on the White House is still unmeasured.
A few weeks after Hughes' announcement, Esquire magazine published an extraordinary interview with Andrew Card, who was portrayed almost in a panic at her leaving, talking about the president being in "denial" and strongly suggesting her leaving would unleash uncontrolled influence from Bush's second closest adviser, political consul, Karl Rove.
The pot was stirred even more furiously when Bush presented his plan for a powerful new Homeland Security Department, which, if approved, will be second only to the Department of Defense in size and influence, but Bush did not immediately name White House Homeland Security adviser Tom Ridge to head it.
United Press International reporters have been fanning out around town trying to follow all these threads. The following is a compilation of speculation given on background by UPI's sources: Andy Card is leaving as chief of staff by the end of the year, all sources agreed, but when he leaves and where he is going is in doubt. He has been mentioned on the short list for secretary of Homeland Security, a department he is given credit for getting off the ground, but others say the startling interview with Esquire violated the Bush administration's cardinal rule: thou shall not talk out of school.
Card had long hinted he would stay no more than two years and, because of his background with Washington trade associations and in transportation - he was Secretary of Transportation under Bush 41 - he could reenter private industry easily.
Though White House spokesman Ari Fleischer quibbled about the quotes in a briefing, Card has never flatly denied them and to some insiders they ring true. In the story, Card fashions himself as a man in the middle of a seesaw, balancing it between Karl Rove on one end and Karen Hughes on the other and that without Hughes's influence, Rove's conservative agenda will have free rein. Esquire quoted Rove as good-naturedly laughing about that.
UPI's sources agreed that more than other recent presidents, the White House Chief of Staff under Bush is a key post. It was one those posts that allowed Bush to fashion himself as a corporate chief executive officer, delegating to a smoothly running team.
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