Bush Sees Donor Potential in Democratic ‘Attacks’

President Bush cited “angry attacks” by Democrats in a fundraising appeal to potential donors on Wednesday, while his aides told hundreds of government workers that he expects them to remain focused on government business this election year.

“The pace of the presidential campaign is picking up and we will soon know who the Democrat nominee will be,” Bush wrote to supporters, asking them for a “special contribution of $100 or $50.”

“Whoever wins the nomination will have done so by energizing their party’s left wing with angry attacks.”

Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and surrogates including Bush relatives have raised about $120 million for his reelection -- money that must officially be spent in the primary, in which he faces no opponent. He is well on his way to banking his goal of $170 million, and resumes his fundraising schedule on Monday in St. Louis.

Bush has half a dozen fundraisers planned in the next five weeks; he has already headlined 48 of them. But he told recipients of the letter, “I’ve got an important job to do that limits my time on the campaign trail.”

The e-mail letter offers a preview of what is likely to be a theme of his reelection campaign: that his Democratic opponents offer only criticism, while Bush is laying out what he calls in the letter an “optimistic, compassionate conservative philosophy.”

His message was indirectly aimed at the Democratic front-runner, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who some Bush advisors predict will turn voters off with his attacks on the president.

Bush has repeatedly said he is paying little mind to the candidates vying for his job.

“Well, occasionally it blips on my radar screen, but not nearly as much as you would think. I’ve got a job to do. I’m occupied,” Bush said in September.

In the fundraising appeal, Bush also pointed to the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election, without mentioning the Florida recount or the Supreme Court decision that ended the stalemate in his favor.

“As we saw so clearly in 2000, every vote matters,” Bush wrote. “A strong foundation has been laid for victory in 2004, but I need your help to win what could be a close election.”