Politics | Steve Schmidt Rove Legacy Tails McCain's New Top Dog Schmidt takes the reins By Jonas Oransky Posted Aug 1, 2008 3:05 PM CDT Copied Steve Schmidt, an adviser to Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., center. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Steve Schmidt is the new captain of the McCain campaign ship, which an ex-operative compares to the "Pirates of the Caribbean." Known as a taskmasker and carrying the seemingly oxymoronic reputation of a moderate Karl Rove protégé, Steve Schmidt isn't showing his hand just yet. The New Republic tries to dig a little deeper. A longtime Bush White House figure, Schmidt made his bones managing Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 re-election campaign and joined the then-high-flying McCain campaign soon after. Not what he's secured the corner office, how the Rove DNA manifests itself remains to be seen, but "under Schmidt's direction the overall message has been much more aggressive, for better or for worse." Read These Next New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. White House rolls with Trump's 'daddy' nickname. Man accused of killing his daughters might be dead. Supreme Court ruling is a big blow to Planned Parenthood. Report an error