afraidfortherepublic's Presentation Packet for Laura Bush
Posted on 08/12/2004 10:29:03 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
In some ways, Laura Bush is the White House's stealth campaigner.
When her motorcade winds its way through the streets of Washington to Andrews Air Force Base, it includes no limousine and sometimes even stops at red lights. In fact, perhaps the only way a passing driver might know that the first lady is inside one of the black S.U.V.'s is the team of Secret Service agents sitting backward in an S.U.V. near hers, staring vigilantly out an open back window.
On the road, meanwhile, her campaigning has generated far fewer headlines than that of her husband's other main surrogate, Vice President Dick Cheney.
But as Mrs. Bush begins several weeks of solo barnstorming in states crucial for her husband's re-election, she is becoming an increasingly visible and effective part of White House strategy, largely because she is seen as someone above the rough-and-tumble of the political fray.
In the last four months, she has been steadily raising her profile, projecting an image much more assertive and assured than she did during the 2000 campaign. She has joked with Jay Leno, made the morning-news-show circuit and appeared in Internet campaign commercials. She has also proved to be a formidable fund-raiser, generating $10 million for the campaign this year alone in speaking at more than a dozen events from Maine to Missouri.
And less than three weeks from now, in what will undoubtedly be her most important public moment of the 2004 campaign, she will give one of the prime-time speeches at the Republican National Convention in New York. (Her every handshake, smile and speech on the campaign trail are being recorded for a videotape that will be shown as she is introduced at Madison Square Garden.)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
afraidfortherepublic's Presentation Packet for Laura Bush
afraidfortherepublic's Presentation Packet to Laura Bush
afraidfortherepublic's picture of Laura Bush in Grafton, WI
afraidfortherepublic's picture of State Senate Candidate Glenn Grothman at the Laura Bush event.
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