Bush Campaigns on Tax Cuts

Opening a new phase in his campaigning for the midterm elections, President Bush delivered a tough attack Thursday on the Democratic Party’s policy on taxes.

Bush, speaking at two political fundraisers in Florida, sought to distinguish Republicans from Democrats on a core issue that advisors believe will motivate GOP voters.

“There’s a fundamental difference in this campaign and campaigns all across the country about who best to spend your money. We believe that the best people to spend your money is you,” the president said at an appearance in Tampa, citing tax cuts passed by the Republican-led Congress since 2001.

Democrats responded by criticizing Bush for adding to the national debt.

“The deficit the president has run up has essentially put a $28,000 tax on every newborn, and that’s not to mention the $1 billion a week we’re spending in Iraq,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who leads the Democratic effort to win more House seats.

Bush spoke in Tampa at a fundraiser for Gus Bilirakis, a Republican, who is seeking the seat his father, Michael Bilirakis, has held in the House. “There’s nothing wrong with a son following in his father’s footsteps,” said Bush, the son of a president.

The reception at a concourse of Raymond James Stadium raised $450,000.

Bush spoke later in the day in Orlando, at a fundraiser for Charlie Crist, the state attorney general who is the Republican nominee for governor.

The president’s focus on taxes marked a change from his efforts over the last three weeks to highlight his administration’s anti-terrorism policies.

Challenging the Democrats’ record on taxes, Bush said in Tampa: “When we first cut taxes back in 2001 to get this economy going, when we cut taxes to recover from a recession, when we cut taxes to make sure we recovered from a corporate scandal, almost 85% of the House Democrats voted against it.”

He said that 95% of House Democrats had voted against a 2003 tax cut proposal. “I think you’re beginning to get a drift of their philosophy about your money,” he said.

Emanuel, the Democratic congressman, said in a written response: “For a guy who added $3 trillion to the nation’s debt and has run a deficit five out of the last five years, George Bush should not throw such sharp stones while living in such a glass house.”

The president also warned of the dangers of terrorism.

Defending his decision to launch the war against Iraq, he said: “Getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do.... The world is more peaceful because of it.”

Bush finessed a potentially difficult political moment, acknowledging the presence of the party’s Senate candidate, Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), who as Florida’s secretary of state was at the center of the disputed recount in the 2000 presidential election.

Republican Party leaders had tagged Harris as a likely loser and discouraged her candidacy, but she won the party’s nomination nonetheless. Bush made passing references to Harris in Tampa and again in Orlando.

“I’m proud to be here with Congresswoman Katherine Harris, running for the United States Senate,” he said in Tampa when he recognized the various political figures in the audience.

james.gerstenzang@

latimes.com