And he's telling us all about it.

Mr. Bush is just not the man Dowd thought he was when Dowd first signed on with him, he indicated today in a New York Times interview.

Dowd, an Austinite and longtime key Texas Democratic strategist, switched parties and joined the Bush campaign team in 1999 because he believed then-Governor Bush would make a sincere attempt to bridge the partisan divide. His disillusionment during the Clinton administration left him hungry for a more hopeful era, and Bush's straightforward manner and unique agenda quickly sparked Dowd's interest.

Dowd rose in the political ranks and was soon part of Bush's inner circle of advisers. He was impressed by Bush's education platform and his refreshing stance on immigration - both of which seemed to indicate that Bush was a different type of Republican. Dowd described his hopeful, enthusiastic feeling in those days as akin to "falling in love."

And like any good political adviser caught up in the game of getting his guy elected, his personal admiration of Bush allowed him to ignore the creeping doubts Dowd had about him. For a while.

Photo from KLRU

Then, the lustre began to fade, and Dowd began to wonder if perhaps his friends were right. Maybe Bush wasn't the Uniter Dowd thought he was.

These doubts didn't prevent Dowd from being on the front lines of the Kerry "flip-flop" strategy during the 2004 election campaign. He remarked, “When you fall in love like that,” he said, “and then you notice some things that don’t exactly go the way you thought, what do you do? Like in a relationship, you say ‘No no, no, it’ll be different.’ ”

But the 2004 election brought no new changes, and Dowd began to wonder about an exit strategy. In his view, Bush was becoming less and less willing to listen to other views, and more willing to shrink his inner circle until it only included people who wouldn't argue with him. Dowd finally decided that the circle was too small for him, and he broke up with the President.

Dowd now says that, though he was impressed by how Bush handled the 9/11 attack, he was shocked when Donald Rumsfeld wasn't fired following the Abu Ghraib horrors, appalled when the President refused to meet with war protester Cindy Sheehan, and disappointed with the administration's handling of the aftermath of Katrina. And he's not afraid to speak publicly about it.

What's next for the heartbroken Dowd?

Well, he's not letting the experience sour him on politics altogether. He still wants to help nudge America toward consensus. “I think we should design campaigns that appeal not to 51 percent of the people,” he says, “but bring the country together as a whole.”

But don't look for Dowd to hook up with anyone right away. Despite his admiration for Barack Obama and his message, Dowd's not looking for a rebound relationship. Instead, he will be attempting to find himself. Says he, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t walking around in Africa or South America doing something that was like mission work.”