Bush daughters electrify convention

Twin sisters Jenna and Barbara Bush, 23, ignited the Republican National Convention with their jocular and irreverent introduction of their Dad, linked to the convention by satellite television hookup. The president then introduced Laura Bush for her remarks.

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	President Bush's daughters Barbara, left, and Jenna address the crowd at Madison Square Garden.

The twins said they stepped into the campaign limelight because "we realized that this would be (the president's) last campaign and we wanted to be part of it." The twins' grandparents looked on -- former President George Bush and former first lady Laura Bush.

Jenna Bush poked fun at their grandmother, saying the former first lady always thought the popular HBO television show “Sex in the City” was “something that married people do but never talk about.”

Her sister Barbara recalled the Kerry daughters’ touching story at the Democratic convention about their father trying to revive one of their childhood hamsters who had dropped into the water.

“We had a hamster, too,” said Barbara. “Let’s just say ours didn’t make it.”

"A loving man with a big heart.”

First lady Laura Bush, describing her husband as a "loving man with a big heart," offered a deeply personal portrait of her husband of 27 years in nationally televised remarks to the Republican National Convention.

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	First lady Laura Bush addresses delegates at the Republican National Convention in New York's Madison Square Garden.

She highlighted personal qualities that many Americans rarely see as the president sharpens campaign rhetoric on the trail and appears in formal White House settings highlighting his role as commander-in-chief.

“People ask me all the time whether George has changed?” Mrs. Bush told her audience. “But he’s still the same person I met at a backyard barbecue in Midland, Texas.”

Mrs. Bush spoke at length about the hardships of life and death decisions that weigh on him. “I remember some very quiet nights at the dinner table” after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, she recalled. “George was weighing grim scenarios and ominous intelligence and potentially even more devastating attacks.”

“And I remember sitting in the window of the White House, watching as my husband walked on the lawn below. I knew he was wrestling with these agonizing decisions that would have such profound consequences for so many lives and the future of the world.”

“No American president ever wants to go to war,” she said. “And my husband didn’t want to go to war -- but he knew the safety and security of America and the world depended on it.”

The Bush campaign has been putting the first lady out front more often, mindful of public opinion reflected in a recent Los Angeles Times survey that showed 56 percent of respondents considered Mrs. Bush their idea of a first lady compared to 26 percent that felt that way about Teresa Heinz Kerry.

No peace talks expected

President Bush is hoping by the time he arrives here on Wednesday that he’s laid to rest the campaign flap he sparked when he said he didn’t think we could win the war on terrorism.

Bush tried to reassure delegates to the American Legion convention in Nashville, Tenn., that his administration would “win.”

“We may never sit down at a peace table, but make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win,’’ Bush insisted.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Bush wanted to make it “crystal clear” that the United States will prevail in the open-ended conflict.

“I probably need to be more articulate,” Bush admitted in a radio interview with conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

The campaign of Democratic challenger John Kerry didn’t let Bush off the hook.

“The president has gone from mission accomplished to mission miscalculated to mission impossible on the war on terror,’’ said Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer. “We need a leader who knows we can win the war on terror and has a plan to do it.”

Schwarzenegger backs Bush

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses the delegates at the Republican National Convention in New York.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the multimillionaire Hollywood action hero, won a starring role at the Republican National Convention. The governor of the nation’s most populous state of California told delighted Republicans that the nation was “back” from the ill-effects of the Sept. 11 attacks “because of the perseverance, character and leadership” provided by the president.

Schwarzenegger added that the nation’s economy was on the rebound.

“To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy -- I say don’t be economic girlie men!”

Quote of the day

Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd on Kerry’s bounce from the Democratic convention in Boston -- “It was like Chinese food -- it dissipated very quickly.”

Arnold, go ahead and unpack

Bush campaign director Ken Mehlman is sending mixed signals on whether the re-election campaign wants California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to campaign for President Bush outside California.

There may be “opportunities” for the former Hollywood star to make appearances on Bush’s behalf elsewhere. But then again, says Mehlman, the new governor has to stay home in California to focus on the job he just won from voters in their recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

``Stay tuned,” Mehlman says.

Does that mean the Bush campaign wants Arnold to travel for Bush or does it mean the campaign wants him to stay home and run California?

“One of the two,” says Mehlman, a Harvard-trained lawyer.

One reason Arnold may not get the call: Schwarzenegger differs with Bush on some social issues – like abortion rights, approval of civil unions for same-sex couples and strong environmental laws and regulations – all at odds with much of the Republican platform and Bush’s core supporters.

Close ‘till the end

Matthew Dowd, a senior Bush campaign strategist, is telling reporters that the Bush-Kerry race will be a squeaker all the way to Election Day. Dowd sees the candidates trading the lead poll-to-poll or week-to-week, but always staying with 2 percent to 4 percent of each other – within polls’ margins of error.

The only thing that could “change the landscape,” as Dowd puts it, is for an external event to shake things up. He cites a surge in the economy, a terrorist attack within the United States or bad news from Iraq.

Let’s have coffee

First lady Laura Bush says she wants to talk to the American people tonight as though she bumped into them at the corner supermarket

“I want to try and answer the question that I believe many people would ask me if we sat down for a cup of coffee or ran into each other at the store,’’ she says in excerpts of prepared remarks released in advance by the GOP. “I want to talk about the issue that I believe is most important for my own daughters, for all our families, and for our future – George’s work to protect our country and defeat terror so that all children can grow up in a more peaceful world.”

Perfume free zone

Security personnel at Madison Square Garden and the adjacent news media facility aren’t letting people bring in any liquids.

Hair spray, perfume – all verboten.

The rejected bottles are piling up outside the airport-style screening equipment.

Hey Joe, welcome back

Hard-hitting Democratic operative Joe Lockhart has joined the Kerry presidential campaign as a senior adviser. You’ll remember Lockhart from his rough-and-tumble service as White House press secretary in the final years of the Clinton presidency dealing with touchy issues like impeachment.

Lockhart, a partner with The Glover Park Group, has been specializing in media relations and political strategy since joining the private sector after Clinton’s departure.

Lockhart’s a veteran on the campaign trail, having served as spokesman for the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996, deputy press for the Dukakis-Bentsen campaign in 1988, assistant press secretary for the Mondale-Ferraro campaign in 1984 and a regional press coordinator for the Carter-Mondale campaign in 1980.

Targeting the keynoter

Bush’s re-election campaign has been crowing about enlisting Sen. Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, to keynote the convention on Wednesday night. Bush’s handlers see Miller as a way to signal conservative Democrats that Bush is their kind of guy – not Kerry.

Miler’s Democratic critics have established a website – Zellout.com – to show their disapproval of the one-term Georgia senator changing sides to join Bush forces.

Democratic activist Eric Carbone says his operation has gathered 4,000 signatures from Democrats urging Miller to admit “you're a Republican registered as a Democrat.”

Wannabe casting call

The 2004 Republican National Convention is not only nominating George W. Bush for “four more years.” It’s also the casting call for prospective GOP presidential candidates in 2008.

None of the wannabes are talking 2008. That’s considered impolitic. Their preening is made possible, of course, because Vice President Dick Cheney says he won’t run to succeed Bush.

Last night’s convention speakers – led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani – are very much in the mix. Add to that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

There are others names, of course. But most Americans have yet to hear of them.

“Every convention puts forward what it considers to be its best foot,'' says presidential scholar Stephen Hess of the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. ``Party people who are celebrities, household names, logically are the people who would be in the on-deck circle for the next available slot.''