Karl Rove Gives Yet Another Reason For Mitt Romney's Loss: He Had A 'Butt-Ugly Primary'

Karl Rove Gives 'Butt-Ugly' Reason For Romney Loss
FILE - In this April 12, 2011 file photo, Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to President George W. Bush, leads a panel discussion, The Politics And Policy Of Growth, at The 4% Project, Driving Economic Growth conference at SMU, in Dallas. The on-air spectacle of Fox News analyst Karl Rove publicly questioning his network's call of the election for Barack Obama happened because Rove and Fox's decision desk both had pieces to a puzzle that the other wasn't aware of, a network executive said Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
FILE - In this April 12, 2011 file photo, Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to President George W. Bush, leads a panel discussion, The Politics And Policy Of Growth, at The 4% Project, Driving Economic Growth conference at SMU, in Dallas. The on-air spectacle of Fox News analyst Karl Rove publicly questioning his network's call of the election for Barack Obama happened because Rove and Fox's decision desk both had pieces to a puzzle that the other wasn't aware of, a network executive said Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

GOP strategist Karl Rove continued his effort to bury Mitt Romney's election loss under a pile of excuses on Wednesday, adding a new explanation to his growing list.

"Mitt Romney had what I scientifically call a butt-ugly primary,'' Rove told a crowd gathered to hear him speak at Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, according to the Erie Times-News. He went on to explain that the lengthy contest featured "way too many debates'' and became overly focused on social issues instead of the economy.

Rove also offered a number of other reasons for Romney's failure in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday, including what he argued was the most important -- a decline in voter turnout from 2008 to 2012. He repeated this claim at his speech Wednesday night.

But in his Journal piece, Rove also claimed that the party process had damaged Romney in ways beyond the primary.

"Holding the convention in late August made sense when candidates relied on public financing for the general election. That will never happen again," Rove wrote. "The Romney campaign had tens of millions it couldn't spend for months until he was officially nominated on Aug. 28. Future conventions should be held as early as late June."

Rove also addressed the failure of his super PAC, American Crossroads, which eventually spent more than $300 million in spending, mostly on losing candidates. He said they wouldn't be deterred by the disastrous showing, and that they were "in it for the long haul."

Before You Go

2012 -- Mitt Romney

100 Years Of Election Night Losers

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot