BUSH: WHAT, ME THE INCUMBENT?

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  • Originally published in The Hotline September 16, 2004 
Copyright 2004 The National Journal Group, Inc.  

Pres. Bush "rarely spends a full day" at the WH, but "even when he does, presidential politics and campaign pitches remain
close at hand. 9/15 was his "first full day since" 8/2, as he hosted a reception for Hispanic Heritage Month, and "attended a
private luncheon" with BC'04 fundraisers, plus House and SEN candidates. AU prof James Thurber: "He's campaigning 90 percent of the time and when he has events in the White House, even though they are not considered campaign events, they are
campaign events. And the honoring of Hispanic month is an example of that." Some POTUSes, including Carter, Ford and Nixon, "used a 'Rose Garden strategy' that emphasized bill-signings and official events" drawing attention to their "stature" in the WH. Bush has instead "concentrated his energy on the road, traveling at a more frenetic pace than" Clinton. Brookings scholar Thomas Mann: "What seems clear to me is that Bush is not running as an incumbent. He knows that if the election is framed as a referendum on the incumbent, he will probably lose. And therefore what he's been doing is trying to focus the campaign" on John Kerry (Hunt, AP, 9/16).