Bush travels to New Hampshire
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President Bush speaks to medical personnel and administrators in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush goes to New Hampshire Thursday to energize his supporters in a state he narrowly secured in the 2000 election and where he has been repeatedly attacked by Democrats in recent weeks.
Bush won New Hampshire in 2000 by a razor-thin margin over Democrat Al Gore, 48 percent to 47 percent, and Republican supporters note Bush would have lost the election if the state's four electoral votes had gone to Gore.
White House and Bush re-election campaign officials want to get Bush to New Hampshire to spread his belief the U.S. economy is recovering, the war on terrorism is being won and the Iraq war was a worthy cause.
The topic of Bush's speech at Fidelity Investments Consulting in Merrimack is the U.S. economy, with the U.S. government set to release Friday its first estimate of the economic growth in the final three months of last year.
A robust rate of 4.8 percent is expected but far less than the blockbuster 8.2 percent of the third quarter. Democrats accuse Bush of leading a jobless recovery.
Democratic challengers attacked Bush at every turn in the run-up to the state's primary last Tuesday, which Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry won to establish himself as the front-runner for his party's nomination.
"There's been a lot of noise there and it's time for the president to clear the air," said a senior administration official.
Bush goes to New Hampshire under fire from Democrats over the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that the war was fought over. They want an independent commission to review whether there were intelligence failures. The White House has been cool to the idea.
In a reflection of White House sensitivity to the issue, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice planned to appear on morning network television shows Thursday to give the administration's side of the story.
Bush has been getting campaign assistance in New Hampshire from the man who beat him there in 2000, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who told supporters in Nashua a few nights ago that if 7,000 votes had changed hands in the state in 2000, Bush would have lost the election.
"We Republicans and independents, and some smart Democrats, are going to have to get out and vote for Bush and Cheney. But, my friends, you're going to have to make a greater effort than you did last time," McCain said.
Bush campaign officials are predicting a close election in November regardless of whether the Democratic nominee is Kerry or former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Jane Millerick, who chairs the Republican Party in New Hampshire, said Wednesday that Bush remained popular in the state despite the Democratic attacks.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
