Bush raises cash in Tennessee, Florida
Democrats criticize Bush's touting 'No Child Left Behind'
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President Bush speaks on his No Child Left Behind policy at West View Elementary School in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Thursday.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- With $99 million in the bank, President Bush is on an aggressive search for more money for his re-election campaign.
Returning to the fund-raising trail Thursday, Bush was heading to Knoxville, Tennessee, and Palm Beach, Florida, to build up his record bankroll. (Bush raises record funds at year's end)
Also while in Knoxville, the president was visiting an elementary school to celebrate the second anniversary of a landmark education bill. (Interactive: The 'No Child Left Behind' Act)
Education was the signature domestic issue of Bush's 2000 campaign, and he has been eager to tout the passage of the "No Child Left Behind Act" as a key achievement of his presidency as he seeks re-election this November. (Bush makes money, touts education, Bush stumps for 'No Child Left Behind')
The law aims to improve teaching and student performance and close the education gap between rich and poor students by relying on required testing and penalties for schools the students of which fail to meet goals.
Schools may be required to let students transfer to other schools, provide private tutoring, or in cases of repeated failures, let the state take over.
Bush visited a school in north St. Louis on Monday to tout the law on its two-year anniversary.
But Democrats complained ahead of Bush's trip that the anniversary was no time for celebrating, as it marks two years of Republicans selling short the bipartisan achievement that produced the new law.
They and other critics say Republicans have failed to approve as much money as the law authorizes.
"For Republicans, that agreement was an empty promise," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said.
"Two years ago, it was right for President Bush to celebrate the promise of the No Child Left Behind Act. Today, it's disingenuous," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts., who formed an unlikely alliance with Bush to pass the law in 2001 but has since become one of the president's strongest critics on the topic.
"It's way too soon for the 'Mission Accomplished' banner on 'No Child Left Behind."'
It was Bush's 18th trip as president to Florida, the state that put him in the White House, and his eighth trip to Tennessee, where he won by a small margin over Al Gore in the former vice president's home state.
With no challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, Bush plans to raise $150 million to $170 million in all. He raised a record $130 million last year and, after campaign expenses, closed 2003 with $99 million.
Much of Bush's money came thanks to a network of more than 300 business executives, lobbyists, attorneys and other volunteer campaign fund-raisers who gathered at least $100,000 or $200,000 in donations to become Bush "pioneers" or "rangers."
In the last fund-raising quarter, from October through December, Bush raised $47 million -- $32 million in fund-raisers, $14 million through direct mail, and $1 million on the Internet.
Bush's 2003 fund raising rivals that raised by all the Democratic candidates put together. They have raised at least $120.5 million, with John Kerry, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Joe Lieberman and Al Sharpton yet to release fourth-quarter totals. Unlike Bush, they have spent most of their money campaigning in the upcoming primaries.
Bush's nearest challenger in the money chase, Democratic front-runner Howard Dean, raised about $40 million last year. (Dean raises $15 million in fourth quarter)
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