WATERLOO -- While Karl Rove was enroute to talk at a campaign fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Mike Whalen at the members-only Sunnyside Country Club Monday, roughly three dozen protesters stood along Ansborough Avenue with signs showing what they thought of President Bush's deputy chief of staff.

"Rove fiddles while working families burn."

"Health care is a right, not a privilege."

"Karl Rove, congratulations on not getting indicted!" Signed, "Concerned Iowans."

Rove's response: "What protesters?"

"He said you've never seen protesters until you've seen the ones that were outside my house," said Hugh Field, a Waterloo lawyer who attended the invitation-only fundraiser. "So he wasn't very impressed."

Whalen said between 70 and 75 people attended the $250-a-plate luncheon. The event was closed to the public and the press.

Rove talked about the need to reform malpractice laws and limit doctors' medical liability, said people who attended the fundraiser. He also talked about health care initiatives, without naming Medicare Part D specifically, that he said have given seniors more options for prescription medications, from more competitors, that have driven their monthly costs lower.

Rove spoke most about Iraq, because that was what he was asked about most often during a question-and-answer session after his speech. Field said Rove encouraged people to read a book detailing Osama bin Laden's goals, available through bookstores, to fully understand what's at stake for the United States in Iraq.

Rove described al-Qaeda as an organization bent on the destruction of the United States, with plans to create a united Muslim empire that stretches from Indonesia to Morocco, said Field and Rick Young, a Waterloo developer who also attended the fundraiser. Rove said the United States has a strategy in Iraq, that the strategy is working and that abandoning the strategy and withdrawing early would not only damage American credibility in the world but would embolden Islamic extremists.

Rove's visit prompted the protest on Ansborough Avenue, organized by Working Families Win and Cedar Valley United for Peace and Justice. It also prompted a press conference by Bruce Braley, Whalen's Democratic opponent for the 1st Congressional District seat.

Braley spoke at the Waterloo Senior Center, touching on a range of topics including Social Security.

Braley was critical of President Bush's plan to create personal retirement accounts with Social Security taxes, calling it a "failed privatization scheme." Braley said creating a hands-off approach to a Social Security trust fund would be one way of ensuring it would be available to future generations.

"It's a safety net that we need to preserve," Braley said.

Braley attacked health coverage under Medicare Part D, and called for giving Congress ability the ability to negotiate lower drug prices; allow re-importation of FDA-approved drugs from Canada; and eliminate the penalty for signing up late. He said too many seniors are affected by the "doughnut hole" where the coverage does not pay for medications.

"It's just going to get worse as we head into the election, Braley said."

Braley also said he would support increasing the minimum wage.

Braley didn't mention Iraq, and Rove didn't mention the minimum wage.

As far as the doughnut hole goes, Rove told people at the luncheon that the days of health insurance providing first-dollar medical coverage are gone; that its focus now is providing catastrophic coverage and it's going to take people time to adjust to that, said Chris Harshbarger, CEO of Ad-Fax Inc., who was at the luncheon.

On Ansborough Avenue, Dennis Harbaugh sat in a chair holding up a sign that read, "Thou shalt not kill Iraqi children."

"It's pretty basic," Harbaugh said of his sign's message. "Human life is sacred and precious, and Karl Rove has been a primary architect of this administration's" Iraq policy.

Some protesters said they hoped Rove would drive past on his way to the country club, so he could see them. Others said regardless of whether Rove saw the signs, their main goal was to spread their message to other people.

"I think it'd be great if, after his closed-door lunch, he'd come out to visit with us," Harbaugh said. "We're just average folks who'd love to visit with him."

At 12:45 p.m., 15 minutes past the scheduled start time for Rove's speech at the fundraiser, Chris Schwartz, the Cedar Valley organizer for Working Families Win, pulled the plug on the demonstration.

"He's definitely already in there," Schwartz said. "I'm ready to wrap stuff up now."

The protesters returned their signs to organizers and walked off to their cars.

Contact Jeff Wilford at (319) 291-1423 or jeff.wilford@wcfcourier.com.

Contact RC Balaban at (319) 291-1418 or rcbalaban@wcfcourier.com.