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http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/09/bush.economy.ap/index.html

Bush highlights economy this week

Monday, February 9, 2004 Posted: 1:36 PM EST (1836 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Trying to steal some of the spotlight from Democrats seeking his job, President Bush is highlighting upswings in the U.S. economy in three events this week, including one in Missouri, a state he narrowly won in 2000 and has been tirelessly courting ever since.

Bush's trip Monday to SRC Automotive Inc., an employee-owned company in Springfield, Missouri, that rebuilds engines and other parts for autos and heavy equipment, marks his 15th visit to Missouri.

He meets at the White House on Tuesday with economic leaders and talks about jobs and education on Thursday in Pennsylvania, another key electoral state he has visited 24 times since taking office.

The trip to America's heartland coincides with the release Monday of Bush's 2004 economic report, a document prepared by his Council of Economic Advisers that is expected to underscore gains in the economy.

In that address, Bush said America has been able to surmount the bursting of the stock market bubble in early 2000 followed by the first recession in a decade, the terrorist attacks, two wars and corporate accounting scandals.

"Americans have responded to each challenge and now we have the results: renewed confidence, strong growth, new jobs and a mounting prosperity that will reach every corner of America," Bush wrote.

Democrats have seized on the troubled job market to boost their election prospects. Bush insists, however, that the situation is turning around, albeit slowly. "It's happening. It's happening," Bush said in an NBC "Meet the Press" interview televised Sunday. "There is good momentum when it comes to the creation of new jobs." Nationally, the jobless rate fell to 5.6 percent in January, the lowest level in more than two years, as employers stepped up hiring -- but not fast enough to ally concerns about the prolonged job drought. Missouri's 5 percent unemployment rate in December was unchanged since November.

Different employment surveys paint contrasting pictures about the health of the economy, which has lost 2.2 million jobs since Bush took office three years ago.

The Labor Department said companies added 112,000 new jobs in January -- the fifth straight month of payroll increases and the largest in three years. Some 366,000 jobs were added in the past five months, it said. Analysts, however, are looking for payroll gains of 300,000 or more every month to demonstrate that sustained job growth is indeed under way.

For a more optimistic look at the nation's employment situation, some economists point to a separate survey of households, which indicated that employment jumped by 496,000 in January. The household survey also counts self-employed and contract workers.

Bush credits his tax cuts with improvements in the economy. Democrats say his economic policies aren't working all that well.

"After months and months of disappointing job creation, it's clear that the administration's policies are still not working for ordinary Americans," Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said of the unemployment figures released last week that show 8.3 million people out of work. "For the 42nd month in a row, America's manufacturing sector lost jobs."

Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, the former House Democratic leader who quit the race for his party's presidential nomination, has endorsed the current front-runner, Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts. Kerry carried Missouri in the state's primary on February 3.

The Bush-Cheney campaign is keenly aware of the difference between Missouri and neighboring Illinois, two important states in this year's election. Bush won Missouri's 11 electoral votes by fewer than 79,000 votes in 2000. He lost Illinois' 21 electoral votes to Democrat Al Gore.

Someone, though, should tell the Secret Service.

Apparently confusing Springfield, Illinois, with Springfield, Missouri, the president's security detail called Springfield, Illinois, last week trying to arrange a visit by Bush, said Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat.

She said the Secret Service quickly realized that Bush wanted to go to the Show-Me State -- not the Land of Lincoln.