AMERICAN BEAUTY
As President Bush was winging his way across the waters off the
coast of San Diego for his appearance Thursday on national TV,
staffers at the Democratic National Committee were scrambling to
find out exactly how much the evening’s performance would cost the
American taxpayer. “Republicans were always running all these
numbers showing how much Clinton and Gore spent for their political
gains,” said a DNC staffer. “We’re trying to do it with Bush and
Cheney.”
Unfortunately, the opposition researchers were out of luck. In
fact, Bush is actually saving taxpayers money by spending the night
on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where security expenses are
much cheaper than they would have been at a land-based hotel.
Moreover, Bush’s flight out to the Lincoln on the
four-seat S3 Viking aircraft is a flight the Navy usually makes to
carriers that are coming in to shore, and Bush did not require use
of the Marine helicopter that he usually takes.
“He just got lucky,” said the DNC staffer. “We’ll be able to get
him lots of times in the coming months.”
Probably not. Anyone who saw Bush on the deck of the aircraft
carrier after landing Thursday afternoon had to realize this was no
Mike Dukakis-in-a-tank moment. Almost certainly images from this
trip will be replayed time and again during the 2004 campaign, to
the benefit of Republicans.
“There isn’t a Republican candidate who wouldn’t kill to be
standing next to him on that aircraft carrier,” says a Republican
political consultant. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
THE LAND-BASED LINCOLN
The White House has targeted Arkansas Sen. Blanche
Lincoln as a critical vote for any Bush tax cut in the
Senate. While the White House and Republicans in that chamber will
also lobby Louisiana’s two senators, Mary Landrieu
and John Breaux, the first termer from Arkansas is
seen as critical.
The reason for Lincoln’s importance is that she’s up for
re-election in 2004 and is expected to face former Rep. Asa
Hutchinson, whose brother Tim lost the state’s other
Senate seat in 2002. Asa Hutchinson, who currently works as a
Homeland Security undersecretary, filed papers last week that would
allow him to run in the Republican primary. He is now waiting to
hear from the White House on whether it would view his candidacy in
a positive way. Hutchinson’s name recognition alone would make him
a formidable candidate against a senator who is not viewed
affectionately by the voters.
“If Hutchinson wants to do this, he has a good shot,
particularly if Lincoln keeps voting to the left of the state,”
says an RNC staffer.
