Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Karl Rove, the architect of President George W. Bush's two successful presidential campaigns, is quitting his White House job with little likelihood that his plans for a transformational presidency will be fulfilled.

Rove, 56, the most influential member of Bush's so-called Austin Mafia of Texas intimates, played a role that's unlikely to be replicated, political experts say. In addition to mapping campaign strategy, he shaped policy and helped design the sweeping initiatives that became a Bush trademark -- plans to revamp Social Security, taxes, education and immigration.

Rather than seeking ``a one-to-one'' replacement, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush may split Rove's duties among several officials. In part, that's a recognition of Rove's broad portfolio. It may also represent acknowledgement that Rove's goals -- building a Republican majority and ushering in sweeping reforms of government programs -- no longer apply to an unpopular president who's struggling for relevance.

The administration needs ``a political strategist or impresario for the upcoming fights in the fall, starting with Iraq and also the budget fights,'' said former White House adviser David Gergen, a professor with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

``There's no prospect of getting any more major legislation through,'' Gergen said.

Replacements

The two aides most likely to see their duties expand are Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, who has been with Bush since his first presidential campaign, and Counselor Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and top congressional aide who joined the White House only a month ago.

Bolten, who served as domestic policy adviser in Bush's first White House bid, is likely to take on an expanded role in that area, and Gillespie probably will inherit many of Rove's political duties.

``I do think this will be good for Josh and Ed,'' Andrew Card, Bush's first chief of staff, said. ``It will help them find a different stride'' in Bush's last months in office.

Rove pushed to nationalize the 2006 mid-term elections around the war on terrorism and Bush's Iraq policy only to see Republicans lose control of the House and Senate.

Terry Holt, a strategist who worked in the 2004 Bush presidential campaign, said with Rove gone the president now needs to ``find his voice again and articulate his vision'' so he can influence issues such as energy legislation, health-care policy and national security.

`Dear Friend'

Speaking at the White House before leaving for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bush called Rove ``a dear friend,'' and said, ``I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit.''

Having guided Bush's political ascent from the Texas governor's mansion to the White House, Rove plans to return to his home in Texas. His resignation is effective Aug. 31.

``Now is the time,'' Rove said. ``I will miss, deeply miss, my work here.''

Rove's resignation as deputy White House chief of staff was first disclosed in an interview, published today, with the editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal.

Rove told the Journal he considered leaving last year. He delayed his departure after his Republican Party lost control of Congress in the midterm elections and the president's agenda was imperiled by dissent over the Iraq war, the Journal reported.

Inner Circle

Rove's status as a key member of Bush's inner circle is indisputable; the former direct-mail political consultant ran Bush's upset 1994 gubernatorial victory in Texas and has been at Bush's side ever since. After being re-elected in 2004, Bush called Rove the ``architect'' of his victory and gave him added responsibilities for developing White House policy.

As much as Rove was a principal adviser to Bush on political matters, he was a lightning rod for criticism from Democrats.

Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the man Bush defeated in 2004, said the administration's approach to politics has left the nation ``more divided than ever before.

``Without doubt the architect of that political strategy was Karl Rove,'' Kerry said in a statement.

Rove also was ensnared in the investigation into who leaked the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame as the administration was trying to counter critics of the war. Rove, who testified five times before the grand jury probing the case, was never charged. I. Lewis Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury, and Bush commuted his prison sentence.

Congressional Investigations

More recently, Rove's role as Bush's adviser has come under increased scrutiny by Democrats in Congress. Earlier this month Rove, acting at the president's direction, refused to appear before a Senate panel investigating the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. He may face a contempt of Congress citation by the judiciary committee.

Rove, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said the investigations being conducted by Democrats in Congress are ``not figuring in my decision.

``The subpoenas are going to keep flying my way,'' he said. ``I'm Moby Dick. We've got three or four members of Congress trying to cast themselves in the role of Captain Ahab.''

While Rove engineered Bush's re-election, he has suffered repeated setbacks since then.

Defeats

He was the primary strategist behind Bush's failed attempt to overhaul Social Security in 2005. He also was unable to break Republican resistance to the president's attempt at rewriting the nation's immigration laws. Last November, Republicans lost control of Congress to the Democrats.

``Rove's place in history is the campaign strategist who helped elect the president twice,'' said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ``His place as a White House aide has been a unique failure.''

Adam Levine, a former White House communications official, said that after the 2006 elections ``a lot of people in the White House thought Rove would leave.''

Those expectations had little to do with the results, which were a political disaster for Republicans, said Levine, now a private consultant in Washington.

``His main role was as a political adviser,'' he said. ``And he's done his last political campaign.''

Re-Election Campaign

Almost from the day Bush took office in 2001, Rove began thinking about the president's re-election campaign. One of his chief aims was to lure back to voting booths the 4 million evangelical Christians who Rove contended didn't bother to vote in 2000 because of the disclosure, just days before the election, that Bush had been arrested decades earlier for drunken driving.

Another one of his goals was increasing the Republican share of votes from Hispanics, the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. Polls suggest that effort was dealt a blow by the failure of Bush to win changes in immigration law.

Rove, who never graduated from college, is known for his encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. politics and can speak knowledgeably about virtually any congressional district in the U.S., down to the precinct level.

Rove said today he ``won't be filling an official role'' in any Republican campaign for president in 2008.

To contact the reporters on this story: Edwin Chen in Washington, at echen32@bloomberg.net; Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington, at hrosennkrantz@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 13, 2007 16:34 EDT