Julie Hirschfeld Davis pens a sharp profile of Karl Rove in today's Baltimore Sun:

Publicly optimistic, despite the threat of Republican losses this fall, the man Bush calls "the architect" is quietly dispensing advice, helping with strategic planning and raising money. His task includes some spine-stiffening for skittish candidates who worry that their support of the president, including backing for the war, could count against them at the polls.

Not so, says Rove, who has argued that Republicans will win based on a full-throated defense of the war and Bush.

Rove is a master at maximizing opportunities and playing offense, and the events of the past two weeks in Connecticut and London have emerged as a fat curveball hanging right over the '06 plate.

Interestingly, though Rove is known for the acuteness of his political antennae, he finds himself at odds with a number of Republicans over the issue of immigration:

Many Republicans have listened politely [to Rove on immigration], then gone their own way. Rove made two trips to Capitol Hill this year to rally support for the plan, only to draw responses ranging from tepid to derisive, attendees said.

"What you have is the chief political strategist in the White House being told by elected officials who are on the front lines [that] 'This is not working -- your strategy does not comport with what I'm seeing,' " said Michael Franc, a congressional specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Clearly Rove is promoting the President's policy, and it's impossible to know just how he would advise candidates to deal with immigration were he not working for the White House.

The important takeaway from the article, however, is that the renewed focus on national security and the war on terror is doubly beneficial for Republicans. Not only do these issues draw a sharp, mostly favorable contrast for the GOP this November, but they are the dominant, overriding concern of the vast majority of Republican voters. In other words, to the extent this election is focused on national security it will dampen and/or paper over fractures in the GOP on other issues like immigration and spending.