Someone told me it was the local and state party politics, not the White House, that messed Schundler's race up. The White House was preoccupied with the recent terrorist attack at the time, but Bush okayed a mailer endorsing Schundler to go out under his name as I recall.
It was too soon after the September attacks for the President to jump into partisan politics. It was unfortunate, but not because they could have cared less.