President Bush offered a broad defense of his foreign policy and said his message that "the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership" will be a prominent theme of his bid for a second White House term.
In a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday with reporters, the president asserted, however, that his re-election campaign had not yet begun, even though the Bush-Cheney team has raised more than $83 million, much of it through personal appearances by Bush at 27 fund-raisers across the country over more than five months.
"I will defend my record at the appropriate time, and look forward to it," Bush said. "I'll say that the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership, and America is more secure."
The president was heading out of town Wednesday for an extended stay at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, which he was using as a base to take care of political business — his own and others' — during several side trips.
On Thursday, Bush attends two fund-raisers for his re-election, in Columbus, Ohio, and in San Antonio.
Saturday will find the president making two stops in Mississippi and two in Kentucky for the Republican gubernatorial candidates facing voters there next Tuesday.
In Mississippi, public opinion polls show former Republican Party Chairman Haley Barbour with a slight edge in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. Vice President Dick Cheney campaigned for Barbour on Monday. Likewise, in Kentucky, surveys have the Republican candidate, Rep. Ernie Fletcher, running ahead of the Democrat, Attorney General Ben Chandler.
On Monday, on the way back to Washington from his ranch, Bush swings through Birmingham, Ala., to add more cash to his campaign account.
Still, by the definition that Bush offered on Tuesday, none of this amounts to political activity on his part. He differentiated between what he called "laying the groundwork for the campaign," which he said includes activities considered by many to be crucial campaign components of fund raising, organizing in states, deciding strategy and running get-out-the-vote efforts, from directly confronting his opponents.
"Right now, I'm — yes, no question, I'm going out to our friends and supporters and saying, 'Would you mind contributing to the campaign for the year '04?"' he said. "To me, there's a difference between that and actually engaging potential opponents in a public discourse in a debate. ... In terms of the balloon drops and all that business, it will be a little while for me to be catching the confetti, as they say."
Bush said, however, he looks forward to defending his record when the time comes, especially on Iraq, which dominated his 48-minute news conference.
Responding to criticism from Democratic presidential candidates and others that the White House failed to anticipate and is still unprepared to deal with the rising violence in Iraq, Bush said the United States will not be rushed out of the country by suicide bombers he said are intent on discouraging success.
He said the United States instead will change tactics and stiffen its defenses by setting up more blockades and inspections, seeking to give Iraqis a bigger role in intelligence-gathering and deploying more troops along Iraq's borders to keep out foreign terrorists.
Bush said he isn't worried that Americans' patience would run out as the death toll ticks upward, even if it continues during the election year.
"They tend to be able to differentiate between politics and reality," he said. "There's no question politics can — will — create ... a lot of noise and a lot of balloon drops and a lot of hot air. I'll probably be right in the mix of it, by the way."
in·san·i·ty n. 1 a : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) and usually excluding such states as mental retardation, psychoneurosis, and various character disorders
b : a mental disorder
2 : such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
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