Thinking About 2004?

Bush’s advisors are. Here are some highlights:

“…Bush’s advisers have drafted a re-election strategy built around staging the latest nominating convention in the party’s history, allowing Mr. Bush to begin his formal campaign near the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks” [remember the use of photos of Bush from Air Force One after 9/11 in Republican fundraisers?] “…they are prepared to spend as much as $200 million”.

“…For the next 18 months, Mr. Bush’s explicitly political appearances will be limited almost exclusively to fund-raisers and tending-the-vineyard visits to important political states like New Hampshire.”

“…Already, the president’s travel schedule is emphasizing states that will prove pivotal in the 2004 election. He went to Missouri last week and is heading for Ohio this week. Since those trips are presented as official White House travel, they were not billed against Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign.”

“…the Republican National Committee, at the direction of the White House, has methodically distributed information intended to discredit his possible challengers and has set up a full-fledged research effort into their backgrounds”. [Click here to read about this in action.]

AB