Bush Tries to Rouse Southern Voters

AUBURN, Ala. -- President Bush campaigned frenetically across the South on Thursday, working to cement the GOP’s slight edge in races critical to Republican hopes of controlling both chambers of Congress.

For months, Bush has been central to the GOP’s nationwide strategy, raising a record amount of money to support Republican candidates. But with less than two weeks to go before election day, the president shifted his focus from fund-raising to encouraging the party faithful to turn out the vote.

“What I hope you do, and I think you’re going to do, is go to your coffee shops and your places of worship and your community centers and remind people that in America they have a duty to vote,” Bush told a boisterous rally in Charlotte, N.C. “We expect you to vote. We expect you to do your duty.”

The president focused first on two Senate seats being vacated by Republican stalwarts Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. The GOP almost assuredly needs to retain both seats if it is to regain a majority in the Senate.

Elizabeth Hanford Dole, a former Cabinet secretary and briefly a 2000 presidential contender, is the Republican candidate hoping to succeed Helms. Recent polls suggest she has a slight lead over Democrat Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Clinton.

In South Carolina, the GOP candidate is Rep. Lindsey O. Graham, a House prosecution manager in the impeachment case against Clinton. Polls show him leading Democrat Alex Sanders, but the former president of the College of Charleston remains within striking distance.

Analysts say the outcome of both races may hinge on turnout -- such as whether the Democrats can spark an outpouring of African American voters to overcome the GOP’s strong base among Southern whites.

After his appearances in Charlotte and Columbia, S.C., Bush flew to Alabama to help the Republican cause in two key tossup races: the governorship and a newly created House seat.

GOP candidate Bob Riley is hoping to unseat Democratic Gov. Donald Siegelman. Recent polls suggest the two are in a dead heat, with Riley perhaps holding a slight edge.

Similarly, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Joe Turnham appear to be neck-and-neck for an open House seat in Alabama’s 3rd District. The GOP is defending a six-seat advantage in the House, and losing the Alabama district would hurt the party’s cause.

Bush appeared on the stage at Plainsman Park at Auburn University with Riley and Rogers.

“There are a lot of reasons to be for these two,” the president said. “But a really good reason is that they both married well. Like me, they married above themselves.”

In weeks of nearly daily politicking on behalf of GOP candidates, Bush has honed his stump speech down to a couple of key themes, which he delivers with few changes at nearly every campaign appearance.

True to form, his speeches on Thursday first dealt with the policy area where he is seen as weakest: the economy. He avoided mention of the most specific economic problems, focusing instead on the sweeping tax cut he pushed through Congress last year, touting it as an economic stimulus.

“The best way to invigorate a sluggish economy, the best way to make sure that people are able to find work, is to let people keep more of their own money,” Bush said in his Charlotte speech.

The 10-year tax cut, he said, will funnel billion of dollars back to the public “so you can decide what to do with it, so you can help invigorate the economy by just doing what you normally do, which is demand a good or a service.”

As usual, Bush appeared to most relish the second half of his stump speech, in which he addresses last year’s terrorist attacks and defends his tough new policy toward Iraq.

“You’ve just got to understand there’s an enemy out there that hates America because of what we love,” Bush told the rally in Columbia.

“We love every aspect of our freedom, and we’re not changing. We’re not backing down, and the enemy can’t stand that.”

“No longer can we assume oceans will protect us. As a matter of fact, quite the contrary,” he said in Charlotte. “We must assume that the enemy is coming, and we’ve got to do everything we can to protect the homeland. That’s why I started talking about the issue of Iraq.”

Bush also generally uses the same jokes as he hopscotches the country. The joke about marriage is a perennial, but it seemed to go somewhat astray as he campaigned for Dole, wife of former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the GOP’s 1996 presidential nominee.

“She married well and so did I,” Bush started out. Then, targeting her husband, said, “The truth of the matter is, Sen. Dole -- the male Sen. Dole -- and I married above ourselves.”