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Bush kicks off fund-raising blitzTouts tax cuts, promises more jobs, pledges security
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring he would continue to advance "compassionate conservatism," President Bush kicked off a two-week fund-raising blitz for his 2004 re-election campaign with a $2,000-a-plate dinner Tuesday night that raised at least $3.5 million. Campaign spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish estimated between 1,200 and 1,400 people attended the dinner of hot dogs, hamburgers and nachos at the Washington Hilton. The $25 million expected to be raised for the Bush-Cheney campaign in the 10-city fund-raising drive is about equal to what the nine Democrats vying for their party's nomination raised in the first three months of this year. Some Republicans believe the Bush campaign will eventually raise upwards of $200 million for the primary season. Bush faces no GOP challengers. In 25-minute-long remarks, Bush touted his administration's accomplishments and promised to try to spread "opportunity to every corner, to every person of this great country." "We're returning more money to American families to help pay their bills," he said. "We're reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains, to encourage investment. "With all these actions, we have laid the foundation for greater prosperity, and more importantly, more jobs all across America so our fellow citizens have a chance to live the American Dream," the president added. He also pledged to expand the realm of "freedom and peace for our own security and for the benefit of the world." "The war on terror continues," Bush said. "The enemies of freedom are not idle. And neither are we. The country will not rest. We will not tire and we will not stop until the danger to the free world is removed." Before the event, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the president's fund-raising efforts were more than justified. "There are nine Democrats who spend all of their time saying negative things about the president, and that means there's a large resonation, a large reinforcement of a negative message that's coming at the president," Fleischer told reporters. "The president is a competitor, and he will prepare for what he needs to do in the re-election." All candidates running for the White House and Congress in 2004 are intensifying fund-raising before the second quarter ends June 30. Candidates are required to file quarterly reports with the Federal Election Commission by July 15. Democrats in particular are scrambling to boost their reports, which will be scrutinized as a key show of strength leading into primaries early next year. But some already are lowering expectations. "We've always said the third and fourth quarters [of 2003] would be our strongest, not the second," Jamal Simmons, a spokesman for Democratic candidate Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, said recently. "We're a message-focused campaign, not a money-focused one. We'll have the money we need, but we're more focused on the message than the money." Tuesday's fund-raiser was the first of several GOP events over the next two weeks. The president will headline a fund-raiser Friday in Greensboro, Georgia, at the plantation home of oilman Mercer Reynolds III, Bush's former Texas Rangers ownership partner and ambassador to Switzerland, who last month became chairman of the Bush-Cheney finance committee. The same day, Laura Bush will be in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a $1,000-a-person event with Mayor Bob Corker, a Bush friend who raised more than $100,000 for the cause in 2000. Three days later, on June 23, New York Gov. George Pataki will host Bush in New York City for an event expected to yield $2 million to $5 million. Also scheduled to be on hand are Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Donors who raised at least $50,000 for the Pataki event were invited to lunch last Tuesday with White House senior adviser Karl Rove, who crowed that the Bush team expects to play seriously next year in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. Bush lost all four of those states in 2000 by an average of 16 percentage points. Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to both Richmond, Virginia, and Boston, Massachusetts, June 23 for money events. Two days later, Laura Bush will raise money in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two days after that, the president will host money events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Finally, just hours before the midnight deadline, Bush will jet to events in Miami and Tampa, Florida, where he is expected to collect at least $4 million. Cheney will be in Akron, Ohio, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, for another duet of last-call fund-raisers. CNN Political Editor John Mercurio and White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.
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