How many citizens have tried to arrest Karl Rove?

Countdown to Crawford reported last night that a protestor tried to handcuff former White House politicial guru Karl Rove as part of a citizens' arrest in San Francisco yesterday, charging him with treason. She was hauled off.

This got us to wondering: how many times has this happened? Oh, sure, people have publicly complained about Rove -- for abusing his office by leaking Valerie Plame's identity to discredit her anti-war husband, for his role in firing U.S. attorneys who were not sufficiently Republican in their prosecutions. But how many people have actually tried to arrest him?

So today we did a little research. Here's what we found so far.

Rove left the White House -- where he was political advisor and deputy chief of staff -- in August 2007. It was an emotional send-off. He and President Bush hugged. And then Rove went off to make the Big Bucks that usually stick to former White House officials -- signing up as a Fox News analyst, writing columns for the Wall Street Journal and giving lucrative speeches.

On March 9, Rove gave a speech -- the fee was a reported $40,000 -- at the University of Iowa. What was described as a hostile crowd greeted his remarks, often interrupting with shouted questions. Replied Rove:

You got a chance to ask your questions later and make your stupid statements. Let me make mine.

Two people tried to make a citizens' arrest of Rove for his crimes as a member of the Bush administration. At one point, according to CNN, someone in the audience yelled, "Can we have our $40,000 back?" To which the man sometimes known as "Bush's Brain," replied, "No you can't."

Then on July 25, Rove went back to Iowa. Mistake. According to the anti-war group Washington Report on Middle East, Rove was to speak at a Republican luncheon fundraiser at the Wakonda Country Club in Des Moines, Iowa. Four antiwar activists -- aged 80, 61, 57 and 25 -- were arrested for trying to make a citizens' arrest, for war crimes. Two of them had been part of the earlier Iowa attempted bust.

"Major crimes are being committed by our government, and Rove has been one of the key players," explained retired Methodist minister Chester Guinn, the 80-year-old who was making his inaugural run at this. "I cannot be silent."

Then on Sept. 15, a group of students at Claremont McKenna College formed a "Karl Rove Welcoming Committee" to mark Rove's appearance on that California campus. They displayed banners with the words "Face the Charges," this a reference to Rove's refusal to testify before Congress, and "War Criminal," for his support of the Iraq war. Then, according to a progressive magazine called Claremont Portside, some students tried to deliver a citizens' arrest. Police pepper-sprayed them.

Hm. Maybe Karl should stay out of Iowa and California.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Charles Dharapak/Associated Press

Karl Rove in SF: Protestor attempts citizen's arrest

It happened in San Francisco today.

At the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers' Assn., former White House guru Karl Rove debated the 2008 presidential election -- and the current economic meltdown -- with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

Up on the stage walks a well-dressed woman, name as yet unknown. First she complained that there was no woman on the panel. Then she drew out handcuffs and tried to arrest Rove for treason.

She was quickly ushered off the stage.

Protests, shouted from the audience, continued during the debate, described by one local television reporter as "a very lively back and forth."

Rove tended to blame everything on the Democrats, including deregulation that led to the subprime mortgage mess. "So the regulators in 2005 were the Republicans, and the deregulators, the anti-regulators, the let-them-do-anything-they-want crowd, were all Democrats, with all due respect," said Rove.

None taken.

Anyway, perhaps the most remarkable exchange was when Rove tried to claim that the Democrats were being unduly negative in their attacks on Republican standard-bearer John McCain. He said:

Yesterday John Kerry, your nominee of your party in 2004, stands up and said if John McCain was asked the question of whether he wears boxers or briefs his answer would be Depends. I think that is pretty much under-the-table and pretty nasty.

Mitchell could barely suppress a bemused smile. Perhaps he was thinking about all the dirty tricks that Rove is alleged to have committed -- including against McCain -- while running two presidential campaigns for George W. Bush. The Maine Democrat said:

I have to say I feel like Dorothy in the Land of Oz, hearing you lecture about negative campaigning.

KGO-TV in San Francisco has the video, which you can watch here.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images