Inside the Beltway

POOR SOULS?

We were a bit amused that President Obama sought to console the wealthy attendees of a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Washington, telling them to hang in there until the economy improves: “There will be days when the markets go up; there will be days when the markets go down.”

“We know that the road to our future is going to be long,” he said. “We’re going to hit our share of bumps and setbacks before it ends.”

Each couple in attendance on Wednesday evening paid $30,400 to hear Mr. Obama’s 13-minute address.

HERE AND MISSING

Former White House senior adviser Karl Rove certainly has found ways to remain in the spotlight - by his own choosing and otherwise.

Now a regular fixture on the Fox News Channel, the former top aide to President George W. Bush made headlines this week by calling President Obama arrogant.

“If Karl Rove wants to call someone arrogant, perhaps he and Dick Cheney should look in the mirror,” reacted Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse, who blasted Mr. Rove and Co. for driving the American economy into the ground.

Now comes word from former Federal Election Commission staffer Kent Cooper, who with fellow one-time FECer Tony Raymond launched the popular Web site Capitol Hill Access, which the Republican National Committee recently reported to the FEC that it paid computer forensics firm Stroz Friedberg another $25,960 on Jan. 29.

“This is the forensics firm that has been looking for ‘lost’ electronic data, mainly e-mails of Rove,” Mr. Cooper noted. “This brings the total paid to Stroz up to $367,575, and that does not include the Covington Burling [legal] payments.”

The costly search for the electronic mailings began after the RNC informed Congress that it was missing several years’ worth of Mr. Rove’s e-mails that are sought as part of a wider congressional investigation into the Bush administration.

HANGERS ON

Like Karl Rove, James Carville never leaves: “I’ve always said politics is like the circus: The worst job is cleaning up after the elephants. We’re just beginning to find out how true that is,” the former Clinton aide said Thursday while fundraising for the Democratic Party.

Mr. Carville argues that President Obama “has done more good in just eight weeks than George Bush did in his entire eight years.”

MAILBAG

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