"The campaign is dominating the presidency -- and not the other way around," Rove said this morning at a breakfast sponsored by Politico.
Meanwhile, "the other guy" -- Republican candidate Mitt Romney -- is "going to get better known and more acceptable," Rove said.
Rove, the former George W. Bush adviser who is making some kind of political comeback, said this week's Republican convention will give Romney a chance to tell voters things they may not know about him, That includes personal things about Romney, from faith to family.
"That matters to the people who are up for grabs," Rove said.
Attended by a standing-room crowd, the Politico breakfast was part of an ongoing comeback for Rove, whose star dimmed amid the second-term political struggles of the Bush administration.
He narrowly missed indictment in connection with the investigation of the outing of a CIA officer.
Now, thanks in part to a column in The Wall Street Journal and a regular gig with Fox News, Rove is again regarded as one of the top Republican gurus in politics.
He's also a major player in the Obama-Romney race as a founder of the major super PACs known as American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS.
During the breakfast, Rove made a state-by-state analysis of the election -- not surprisingly, he thinks Romney will win, in part because he thinks Obama is running too negative a campaign.
Rove also jousted with reporters in the audience who have harassed him over the years.
At one point, Politico's Mike Allen asked Rove if he was relishing the role of political analyst, rather than operative.
"I don't know if I'm relishing it," Rove said. "I'm enjoying it."
