Someone, can't remember who, asked "Where is Chelsea"...well, here she is...
Chelsea Clinton comes to visit her father, former President Bill Clinton, at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia in New York Saturday, Sept. 4, 2004.
Perhaps you'll get to see Zell in your neck o' the woods. If you do, give him a tip of the hat from me, please!Steady on the Right, Bush Pitches to the Center
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
ARKERSBURG, W.Va., Sept. 5
To Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Senator Zell Miller, the Democrat from Georgia who delivered a scathing attack on Senator John Kerry at the Republican convention last week, is a rabid opportunist who has become the hate-spewing face of President Bush's re-election campaign."He was so frightening that parents took their children away from the television," Mr. McAuliffe told reporters in a conference call on Sunday.
To Mr. Bush, however, Mr. Miller is his new best friend.
Campaigning here on Sunday, Mr. Bush invoked Mr. Miller's support as a reason Democrats and independents could feel comfortable voting for the Republican ticket. Mr. Bush has used a version of the same line at every campaign stop he has made since the end of his convention on Thursday night, and here, as in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio in recent days, it brought rousing cheers from the audience.
Standing at the 50-yard line of the Parkersburg High School football stadium under a blazing sun that had his audience wilting, Mr. Bush never mentioned his support for the struggling coal and steel industries, the issue he usually emphasizes when he travels to this state.
But Mr. Bush has an eye toward expanding his appeal beyond his conservative base as the race enters the home stretch. So he found time to celebrate Mr. Miller, who at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night suggested that Mr. Kerry was so weak on defense that he wanted to protect the United States with spitballs.
"See, my message is for everybody," Mr. Bush said after noting that the crowd included Mayor Jimmy Colombo of Parkersburg, a Democrat. "A safer, stronger, better America is for every citizen of this country. I think old Zell Miller set a pretty good tempo for Democrats all across the country. He made it clear it's all right to come and support the Bush ticket."
In the hours and days after Mr. Miller's appearance at the convention, Democrats predicted that his speech would backfire by providing evidence that Mr. Bush's campaign was all about attacking Mr. Kerry, impugning his patriotism and scaring voters into the arms of Republicans.
But Mr. Bush's aides said the response to the president's mentions of Mr. Miller showed that Mr. Miller had touched a chord among voters of all stripes by voicing doubts about Mr. Kerry's record on national security issues.
Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager, told reporters as they accompanied the president on a bus trip through Ohio on Saturday that he had spoken with Mr. Miller that morning.
"I told him he could run for mayor in places like Cedar Rapids," Mr. Mehlman said, alluding to the cheers that greeted Mr. Bush's mention of Mr. Miller in Iowa on Friday.
Bush campaign officials are moving to take advantage of what they see as the opening Mr. Miller has provided. Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Mr. Bush had hoped to have Mr. Miller campaign with him this weekend, but Mr. Miller had bowed out because of an illness in his family. Mr. Stanzel said the campaign hoped Mr. Miller would campaign with the president as soon as possible.
Reaching out to Democrats is crucial to Mr. Bush in West Virginia, where Democrats hold a substantial advantage among registered voters. Bill Clinton carried West Virginia in 1992 and 1996, but Al Gore lost it to Mr. Bush in 2000. Both parties are campaigning hard here: this was the second consecutive Sunday Mr. Bush had spent here.
Mr. Bush had the campaign trail to himself on Sunday. With 58 days until the vote, Mr. Kerry and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, both took the day off, as did Vice President Dick Cheney.
Emphasizing the support he has received from Mr. Miller - without dwelling on the specifics of the Georgian's convention speech - is part of Mr. Bush's broader strategy to move to the political center and deliver a positive message. The shift comes after spending months attacking Mr. Kerry's qualifications to be commander in chief and shoring up his own base on the right.
Someone, can't remember who, asked "Where is Chelsea"...well, here she is...
Chelsea Clinton comes to visit her father, former President Bill Clinton, at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia in New York Saturday, Sept. 4, 2004.
"He was so frightening that parents took their children away from the television," Mr. McAuliffe told reporters in a conference call on Sunday.
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Oh, please.
Har! Kerry was in Steubenville on Saturday. With 3,500 in attendance, about 1,000 were protesting against him, plus there was thunder, lightning and rain there when not a single drop fell on our little town, a scant 16 or 17 miles away. I'm reminded of GWB's appearance in Charleston, WV in August, 2000. It had rained all morning, but as soon as he came out to speak, the clouds parted and the sun shined. It was surreal.