All day long we rooted around for evidence that Karen Hughes was giving up her White House perch because of
some vicious turf battle with Karl Rove or some fatal screw-up with the Venezuelan coup or the Middle East crisis.

The most powerful woman — as opposed to lady — in White House history couldn't possibly be walking away
in the middle of a war because of family.  Darn it all, is that the coup de grâce for Have It All?

Women will never get anywhere in this boys' administration, or this boys' town, or this boys' world,
if they're going to sacrifice prime West Wing real estate every time their husbands and kids kvetch.
Most people here would cut off their arm to get the president's ear; you get no respect hitting from the ladies' tees.

When a man says he's not going to run for office or he's quitting a big political job because he wants
to spend more time with his family, it's always taken as code for:

• The DNA tests have come back positive.
• A multi-count indictment is about to be unsealed.
• He's been caught leaking stuff that makes him look better than the president.
• He slighted the first lady.
• The 21-year-old has given 8x10 glossies to The Star.
• That old bong is being bid up on eBay.

A day of digging turned up nothing. Sure, there were some tensions between Karen and Karl. But she really
was leaving because her husband, a 63-year-old lawyer, and 15-year-old son were homesick for Texas.

"I hate to disappoint the cynics," she laughed last night, as a tearful Mary Matalin came into her office to give
her a hug. "I want my son to know where his home is when he comes home from college. I want to see my
stepdaughter and granddaughter."

Still, it was strange to watch the ultimate control freak, a Mother Superior type so restrictive with the media
that she even required White House officials to let her decide whether they could accept invitations to an
upcoming black tie press dinner, suddenly relinquish control.

The women of the Bush White House had worked hard to promote the place as family-friendly — even though
the only policy designed to make life easier for women was the tax cut, and despite a welfare policy that forces
women to work harder than ever for their welfare checks.

Ms. Hughes told a Washington Post reporter last year that she went home early on Wednesdays, at 5:30 p.m.,
to be with her son, Robert. In the capital, that passes for quality time. But then came 9/11.

Yesterday Bushies were eager to dispel the notion that the 45-year-old counselor's departure meant the
White House was not family-friendly after all. They made the case that the president is so family-friendly,
he will still be friendly with you even if you desert him for your family. Both she and the president said she
would still be a close adviser. "Texas is not Pony Express land," she chortled.

Ms. Matalin, a top Cheney aide, pronounced herself "inspired": "If Karen can do the work she loves in the
place she wants to live while making her family happy and the president happy, isn't that a breakthrough?"

She admitted things could be hard to balance, especially when she had to leave her two daughters — Matty, 6,
and Emma, 4 — with her husband, James "Cajun Crossfire" Carville, to go off to a secure, undisclosed location.

When she went on the 12-day Mideast trip in March with her boss, "Matty's first tooth fell out, the hamster died,
and James didn't think he had helped Matty enough with her project for the fair."

Yesterday she had her kids at the office. "Emma watched `Dragon Tales' while I talked to energy people
and Matty put on makeup with me for a stand-up interview outside."

Maybe women are superior because they focus on "who" and not just "how much?" Maybe having some
of everything we want is better than having all of what men want.

"Let's not say, woe is us, we are victims," Ms. Matalin said. "Look what we get to be a part of. Look at what
our kids get exposed to. Matty knows who Osama bin Laden is and Emma asks if Arafat is a bad man."

Mommy's answer was off the record.