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Bush stumps in Kentucky, Mississippi
LONDON, Kentucky (CNN) -- President Bush made several campaign stops Saturday in an attempt to give a last-minute boost to gubernatorial candidates in Mississippi and Kentucky. Bush used a basic stump speech throughout the day and at times used identical lines, except for switching the names of the candidates and states. "This is voter turnout time," Bush said in London, Kentucky. "I'm asking you to go to your coffee shops, your farm implement dealers, your community centers, your houses of worship, and remind people they have a duty to vote." Bush emphasized education, tax cuts, "faith-based initiatives" allowing religious groups to administer some government-funded social services, and rallied the Republican faithful for Tuesday's vote. In Mississippi, Washington lobbyist and former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour is trying to unseat Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. In Kentucky, U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher, a third-term Republican congressman, is running against the state attorney general, Ben Chandler, to replace outgoing Gov. Paul Patton, who is barred from seeking re-election after serving two terms. President Bush won both states handily in 2000 -- Kentucky by 16 points and Mississippi by 17 -- but the gubernatorial races are too close to call, based on recent polls. At the first stop of the day, in Southaven, Mississippi, a woman was arrested after driving a car through a security barrier and slamming into the outside of the convention center where Bush had just finished speaking. (Full story) Before the incident, the president said candidate Barbour "was by my side" in pushing for tax cuts. Bush said the tax cuts gave a needed shot in the arm to the economy. And he said Barbour has made education a priority for "every child in Mississippi." "Education is to a state what national defense is to the federal government: the number one priority," Bush said. In the weekly Democratic radio address, Gov. Musgrove said that under his leadership, teachers received pay raises, student test scores increased and Mississippi became "the first state in the nation to put an Internet-accessible computer in every classroom." He also said that even though "our country is on track for the worst job-creation record since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression," Mississippi had added jobs during his term in office. After a final campaign stop in Gulfport, Mississippi, the president planned to spend the night at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
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