The White House is trying out a blog approach to President George W. Bush’s Middle East trip this week. The new tactic comes as Bush competes for media attention with presidential candidates who want to succeed him. 
 
While Bush is visiting six countries trying to sell his plan for Middle East peace and to isolate Iran because of its disputed nuclear energy program, his staff will be filing dispatches from the road that will be posted on the White House Web site. 
 
“This is new to us.  We encourage you to log on and to check back often to read some of the updates that the staff will be posting throughout the trip.  So it will be just a little bit of a blog,” said White House spokesman Dana Perino. 
 
When asked who would be providing the tidbits, Perino said senior White House aides including national security adviser Stephen Hadley, chief of staff Josh Bolten and even Perino herself.  
 
“They’ll be available at whitehouse.gov, and we hope to do something daily, but we’ll just see how the trip goes,” she said. 

No word on whether Bush himself would turn into a blogger. 
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– Photo credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas