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Bush hits campaign trial hard
22/10/2004 15:05 - (SA)
Downingtown - President George W Bush, in the throes of a hotly contested electoral battle, has virtually deserted the White House for the campaign trail as he fights for his job in the home stretch to the November 2 election.
In the past 82 days, according to an AFP count, Bush has spent four days in the White House, 12 on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and three at his parents' home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The rest of the president's time has been spent criss-crossing the country, stopping in places like Downington, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, in a relentless pursuit of votes to beat down the looming challenge of Democrat John Kerry.
The last US president who stood for reelection was Bill Clinton in 1996. Four years later, Clinton was at the end of his two-term constitutional limit, and his vice-president, Al Gore, fought the election against Bush.
Campaigns heating up
Following a strategy that proved successful in the 2002 legislative mid-term elections, Bush has been all over the map in this campaign, often speaking at four rallies in a single day in the dozen or so swing states deemed critical to his victory.
Bush returns to the White House to sleep on nights when he would rather not camp in a hotel, and is off and running in the morning.
But Bush is not the only one to vacate the halls of power for the campaign trail - vice-president Dick Cheney is also spending much of his time on the road.
And congress is in recess until election day, with one third of the 100-seat senate and the entire 435-seat House of Representatives stumping for reelection.
The Democrats screamed foul when Bush national security advisor Condoleezza Rice turned up making foreign policy speeches, coincidentally, in some of the very key states her boss is fighting for.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to Democratic President Jimmy Carter, pointed out that neither he nor any other of Rice's predecessors had become involved in the re-election campaign of an incumbent president.
Signs bills on the road
Even while out campaigning Bush is never far from the seat of power, thanks to the presidential jet Air Force One, a fully equipped White House on wings that allows the president to remain in constant contact with his administration and with leaders around the world.
Although Bush occasionally jets back to Washington to greet visiting dignitaries like Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on September 23, he can still sign bills into law while on the road.
"It is simply a matter of bringing a piece of paper to him and that's done in a matter of minutes," said deputy White House spokesperson Trent Duffy.
Thus, Bush found time on Wednesday, while travelling between Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio, to sign Presidential Decree S.2895, "an act to authorise the Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri, to be illuminated by pink lights in honor of breast cancer awareness month."
- AFP
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