DENVER—Karl Rove said Wednesday that Republicans can prevent President Barack Obama from winning re-election by focusing on issues like the economy, jobs, health care, deficit spending, and what the GOP strategist calls the failure of federal stimulus spending.
Republicans can win in 2012 by consolidating their base of voters, not by compromising their principles, Rove said at a Denver fundraiser for the Colorado GOP. The party said 106 people paid between $65 and $200 to attend.
Republicans have no front-runner among presidential candidates, but Rove said that’s healthy. He said Democrats benefited from a long contest before the 2008 election that energized Obama and his volunteers and generated interest in party primaries.
Fellow Republicans can’t beat each other up, though, Rove said. “Leave that up to the Fox News analysts to do,” he said.
He said Republicans will need a strong ground game in battleground states such as Colorado to get out the vote.
Colorado has nearly equal numbers of voters registered as Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated.
“In 2012, as goes Colorado, so goes the nation. You’ve got a lot of work to do,” Rove said, adding that Colorado Republicans are in a strong position after picking up seats in the state Legislature and in Congress in November.
He also said GOP candidates will need sufficient funds. Rove has been asking donors for $1 million checks.
American Crossroads, which has ties to Rove, is among the nation’s top-spending political interest groups. It is projected to spend more than candidates and parties themselves in some races next year.
