Bush Takes Quick Party-Policy Trip

Mixing the politics of education with the more conventional political activity of fund-raising, President Bush promoted teacher training, and then helped Republicans collect $2 million Monday.

Bush spent roughly four hours in the air on a round-trip journey to stay barely six hours in Minnesota, adhering to his recent pattern: one or two trips a week. He makes appearances in politically important congressional districts and states, while trying to focus public attention on a policy message that could help Republican candidates.

The president promoted his education policies at the 3,300-student Eden Prairie High School in suburban Minneapolis, spotlighting his efforts to upgrade the quality of teachers and improve conditions for them in classrooms.

He told teenagers in a packed gymnasium that they may have already forgotten what an isosceles triangle is, and they may be unable to recall the workings of photosynthesis. But he said that they have learned to work hard--and for that they can thank their teachers.

Later, his venue was a hotel ballroom for a fund-raising dinner to benefit the state GOP and the campaign of Norm Coleman, the former mayor of St. Paul and the Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone. Both parties expect it to be one of the nation’s tightest races in a year when every contest is crucial to control of the narrowly divided Senate.

The day offered a glimpse of the president pushing ahead with his domestic and political agenda, even as U.S. forces were engaged in some of the most difficult ground combat of the war in Afghanistan.

He stressed his administration’s unswerving commitment to the war on terrorism. “So long as our country is under threat, this great nation will hunt down those who want to harm innocent Americans,” he said.

Education is a topic the White House believes resonates with voters, but Bush’s political advisors are concerned he has not gotten more credit for enactment of a sweeping school reform bill in December. The legislation was one of his top domestic priorities.

A poll for Fox News last week found that 38% of the respondents felt Democrats would do a better job on education, compared with 36% favoring the Republicans, a finding said to be similar to internal White House surveys.

In his speech at Eden Prairie High, Bush drew attention to the 35% increase he is seeking, to nearly $3 billion, for programs designed to better prepare teachers for the classroom.

His program is built around a series of measures that are intended to, among other things, encourage professionals from other fields to become teachers, improve classroom conditions, raise the requirements for teachers before they are assigned classes--in particular, demanding higher scores in tests of their knowledge of subject areas they are teaching--and give them greater authority to enforce discipline.

“Many teachers are wary of imposing discipline, because they might be sued,” Bush said.

He cited legal protections against such suits in the legislation he signed, and said, “we are taking frivolous lawsuits out of the learning process.”