Karl Rove, the elder statesman.

The experienced consultant. The Wall Street Journal columnist.

Rove's "The new rules of politics" is a fluff piece, ostensibly about insights into the campaign process. It's about as insightful as a fashion consultant's views on which color is the new black.

After reading it, go back and look at it again through the eyes of Mr. Rove:

• No Democratic candidate is named. Every Republican candidate is named.

• The final bullet point - "Ideas still matter", merges into the conclusion. It reads as follows:

"Both Democrats and Republicans are in spirited and, at times, heated contests. The difference is Democrats are running a nasty race that has as its subtext race and gender. The Republican race, on the other hand, is a serious debate about serious ideas."

Some of Rove's other rules of politics could have been included in the piece:

• Seek trustworthy vectors for your message. A column in the WSJ is worth a thousand campaign commercials. A role as "contributor" on Fox is like solid gold. Thanks, Mr. Murdoch!

• If you gain access to these vectors, milk it. Put on your objective analyst costume. Mention in an offhand way how it's too bad the other party can't decide whether to elect a negro or a female, ha ha!

But he'd have to change the title, because those rules are not new.