Karl Rove loves a three-cushion shot. As the President's chief political brain, the Texan, 51, delights in crafting a message or staging a presidential visit that doesn't just score a political point but also plays to several constituencies at once. So when it was reported in the New York Times that Rove might have steered an Enron contract to Ralph Reed, a G.O.P. kingmaker whose support Rove needed, the political elite in Washington, which includes some longtime enemies, thought that just might be his kind of pool.
All the key players involved denied any funny business, but that didn't stop the...