by Dave McGill

Rove is back and it’s not good news for the Democrats as they look forward to the mid-term elections.

But first, in a related development today, the Senate considered a bill promoted by President Obama that may have been the most important legislation of the year for the beleaguered residents of Main Street, as well as for Karl Rove. Called the Disclose Act, it was intended to offset, somewhat, the impact of the Supreme Court decision, seven months ago, that effectively removed limitations on what corporations can spend on candidates. The new bill would provide the public with the information it might need to be aware of exactly who is financing the candidates and the issues.

Despite the fact that corporations are our employers, and – in the eyes of the Supreme Court – that they are apparently people, it’s important to understand that, in the economic arena, they are, quite simply, the enemy.

Right now, for example, they are flush with cash and the last thing they’re going to do with that money is hire workers. A few will increase dividends and some will buy back their own stock, but the real sharks will be out there looking for mergers and acquisitions in the Great Rummage Sale that has been brought to them courtesy of the Federal Reserve Board and others. So far this year there have been 188 M&A’s of over $1 billion each, up from 99 last year, and they’re just getting started.

So, why is this significant? Because M&A’s typically result in lost jobs – a lot of lost jobs.

So, now that we’ve put corporations in their rightful place, let’s get back to today’s deliberations in Congress. Unfortunately for John Q. Public, the Disclose Bill failed, with every Republican voting against it and every Democrat voting in favor. It may be reconsidered, but due to the collective judgment of the good people of Massachusetts in electing Scott Brown, at least one Republican must cross over to avoid a filibuster.

After the defeat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked why anyone would be against the transparency offered by the bill unless they had something to hide. That was a particularly perceptive observation. For, what the Republicans may want to hide is the rapidly growing involvement of Karl Rove. In fact, the bill might well have been called the Anti-Rove Act because it now seems that the chief architect of the political strategy employed during the Bush years has, by far, the most to gain by today’s action.

When the Supreme Court rendered its decision back at the beginning of the year, the Democrats went through a prolonged period of hand-wringing. One person who was not asleep at the switch, however, was Mr. Rove. After being shut out of the 2008 electoral process due to the involvement of two people who did not like him, namely candidate John McCain and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Rove buckled down and went to work.

And, what he has come up with is the perfect end run that renders impotent every effort that has ever been put in place to limit the impact of money in politics. While all the attention has been directed at the Tea Party movement recently, the real action within the Republican arena has been quietly generating momentum in Rove’s living room.

A group by the name of American Crossroads lies at the center of Rove’s plan. With donations to the RNC on the wane, American Crossroads is intended to become a major recipient of large corporate contributions. Rove is not officially part of this group. However, as its principle fund raiser, along with his protégé, Ed Gillespie, Crossroads stands to become a significant factor in the forthcoming election.

In addition, Rove has assembled a team to help him, including some Republican movers and shakers and two other groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Action Network. Together, they plan to raise $135 million, according to a recent article in Rolling Stone, which will be used to secure Republican victories in races considered to be vital – as determined by the man who was once called “Bush’s brain.”

It’s clearly time for the Democrats to become concerned – very concerned. The coup by Rove to take over the Republican Party from the RNC signals the possible return of “deficits-don’t-matter corporatism,” to borrow a term from the aforementioned article.

And, thanks to the Supreme Court, the Republican Senators, and the voters of Massachusetts, no one will know where the influence-purchasing payoffs are coming from.

Dave McGill