WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will hit the campaign trail next week to rustle up some badly needed cash for Republican candidates — including presidential hopeful John McCain — but catching a glimpse of him in action will be fleeting.

Bush will crisscross the Rocky Mountains Tuesday through Thursday from New Mexico to Arizona to Utah to Kansas raising money for McCain at three events and Republican congressional candidates at two others. They are all closed to the media.

“The reason that they’re closed is that the McCain campaign has a practice of having their fundraisers as closed press,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Bush has permitted the media attend fundraisers at hotels and other similar venues but not at private residences (like the other two fundraisers on the trip).

Bush and McCain will attend one fundraiser together (in Arizona), she said,  but it remains unclear whether the two will be seen in public together.

“Stay tuned for the details … when we arrive or when we depart, I think there will be a chance,” Perino said. McCain has lagged his Democratic rivals in raising campaign cash — he pulled in $18.5 million in April while New York Sen. Hillary Clinton brought in $21 million and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama received $30.7 million.

McCain has been trying to shake accusations from Democrats that he would represent a third term of Bush, so he could choose to avoid a photo opportunity during their get-together on Tuesday.

Congressional Republicans have also been facing a fairly grim outlook, with more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives leaving, either retiring or seeking another office.  That has made it even harder to narrow or reverse the 236-199 advantage Democrats have in the House. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate must defend 23 seats while Democrats have 12 seats to guard. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (McCain listens to Bush at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in April.)

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama continues to be a fundraising juggernaut, having raised nearly $31 million in April alone. But it's safe to say none of that campaign money came from billionaire financier Carl Icahn.

"I personally think he'd be a terrible president," groused the 72-year-old corporate agitator to a well-heeled crowd of hedge fund managers and investors in New York yesterday.

Not known for restraint in expressing his opinions, Icahn warned listeners that a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House could wreak havoc in the economy, with "instant inflation, higher taxes and much higher interest rates."

"I think what would be devastating is that you get a Democrat as president coupled with over 60 senators that are Democratic," said Icahn, who has previously thrown his support behind Republican John McCain, who is 71. "They will legislate a huge spending spree."

A huge spending spree? Budget deficits? Didn't the U.S. have a budget surplus at the end of the the tax-and-spend Democratic Clinton years? And now we have record deficits after seven years of a Republican Bush presidency? And everyone is worried about inflation.

Of course, that's all academic. The view from some on Wall Street: Republicans are fiscal conservatives and Democrats are tax-and-spenders.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 22 - A Missouri car dealer has a message for Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama: Midwesterners love their guns.

Mark Muller, the owner of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri south of Kansas City, on Thursday said sales have soared at his auto and truck business since launching a promotion this week that promises buyers a $250 credit for a handgun or a $250 gas card with every purchase.

Every buyer so far “except one guy from Canada and one old guy” has elected to take the gun, Muller said in an interview with Reuters. He recommends his customers select a Kel-Tec .380 pistol. 

“It’s a nice little handgun that fits in your pocket,” he said. 

Muller said he came up with the promotion after stewing over comments made last month by Obama at a fundraiser for his presidential campaign in San Francisco. The Illinois senator, who narrowly defeated Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton in Missouri’s primary, said that small-town Americans bitter over hard economic times sometimes “cling to guns and religion.”

“We did it because of Barack Obama. He said all those people in the Midwest, you’ve got to have compassion for them because they’re clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive,” said Muller.

“We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns,” Muller said in the interview. “I’ve got a gun in my pocket right now. I have a rifle in my truck. We’ve got to shoot the coyotes out here, they’re attacking our cows, our chickens. We’re not clinging to nothing. We’re just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want. This is the way it ought to be.”

Muller said the dealership, which has as its logo a grimacing cowboy wielding a pistol, has sold more than 30 cars and trucks in the last three days, far more than its normal volume. Phone calls and inquiries on car purchases from people around the country have poured in, Muller said.

He’s also had six protesters show up outside his business.

There may be more on the way because Muller said his next promotion is going to be a King James Bible for any car-buying Muslim. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Obama speaks to supporters in Iowa); Max Motors (Mark Muller)

WASHINGTON - Former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who disappointed some conservatives earlier this year for unexpectedly dropping his White House bid, jumped back on to the political scene over the last 24 hours.

First we found out on Wednesday that the ex-Massachusetts governor and investment banker was taking a sojourn out to Arizona to meet with former rival and the presumed Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain — along with others who have been mentioned as possible vice presidential running mates.

And now Romney on Thursday announced he has formed a political action committee – Free and Strong America PAC — to help struggling Republicans running for Congress this year as well as his now-close friend McCain who has lagged the Democratic presidential hopefuls in fund-raising.

McCain raised $18.5 million in April,  less than the $21 million hauled in by rivals New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and $30.7 million by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

“The PAC will support candidates running for all levels of office in the current 2008 cycle, starting at the top of the ticket with Republican presidential candidate John McCain,” the group said in a statement.

Congressional Republicans are facing a tough campaign this season, with more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives retiring or leaving to run for another office, far more than Democrats. Additionally, in the last few months Democrats have won three special elections to fill vacant House seats in traditionally Republican districts.

Besides McCain, Romney’s PAC identified other Republicans it plans to help this campaign season, found here.

President George W. Bush, whose popularity ratings are plumbing new lows, has been doing some fund-raising for congressional candidates, but many of recent have been behind closed doors.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking (McCain and Romney at a news conference in March in Colorado.)

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama gave a description of his extended, multiracial family on Wednesday while introducing himself to voters in Florida. 

 Here’s what he said: 

 ”When you get my family together, I mean you’ve got people who look like Margaret Thatcher. You’ve got people who look like Bernie Mac. You’ve got, you know my sister, she looks like Salma Hayek – I don’t know if you’ve seen her … She looks Latin,” he said.

There’s more: 

 ”She’s got a baby, ’cause she married a Chinese Canadian, so she’s got a little, I’ve got a little niece who’s a little Chinese baby,” he said. 

 ”So the point is is that — that’s just how I look at the world is we all have a piece of each other and we can’t get caught up in our differences.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Scott Audette. Obama delivers a speech during a town hall meeting in Kissimmee, Florida, May 21, 2008.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - Democrats are acting more like Republicans by not counting the results of the Florida and Michigan primaries and by not seating those states’ party delegates, former President Bill Clinton said on Tuesday.

“The Republicans are supposed to be the people that don’t count votes in Florida, not Democrats,” said Clinton, campaigning with his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe, where she chatted with voters and he held an impromptu news conference.

The January votes in Michigan and Florida were deemed invalid by the national Democratic Party because both states moved their election dates forward in defiance of party rules.

“The Democrats said, ‘We’re going to decapitate them, smudge them, step on them, act like they never existed, act like they never voted,’” the former president said. “It’s very strange that the Democrats would be more authoritarian and more hostile to the voters.

Many Democrats, like Clinton apparently, believe the 2000 election recount in Florida unfairly favored the Republican Party. The dispute was resolved by the Supreme Court, giving Republican George W. Bush the victory and Democrat Al Gore the loss.

Hillary Clinton won Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary, which did not include Obama’s name on the ballot. She also won Florida and  is seeking to have the votes counted and the more than 350 delegates reinstated. The party’s rules committee meets next week in an effort to resolve the dispute.

Republicans were less harsh toward states that moved their contests early and stripped them of just half their delegates.

“Do the right and decent thing by Florida and Michigan. Don’t let the Republicans look more enlightened than us, which they do today. It’s unbelievable. I  never thought I’d see that,” Bill Clinton said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo: Reuters/John Sommers II (Hillary and Bill Clinton campaigning in Louisville)

MIAMI - Republican John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” bus took a little detour today, depositing McCain at a Cuban-American restaurant in Little Havana.

McCain, who likes to keep a cup of coffee at his side most of the time, decided to sample the espresso served up at Cafe Versailles, ordering a cup at a window for ordering items to go.

Taking a sip from the small ceramic cup, he must have found it a pretty strong brew. He pumped his fist as he tasted the coffee.

“Do I have any enamel on my teeth?” he asked. “Delicious!”

This was after McCain stopped at La Casa del Preso, a memorial to deceased and current political prisoners in Cuba. After a tour inside, he spoke to a group of Cuban-Americans gathered outside.

“Buenas tardes,” he told them, then admitted that was pretty much the extent of his knowledge of the Spanish language.

In English, he proceeded to criticize Cuba’s communist government and vowed that sooner or later the Cuban people would be free.

Somebody in the crowd thought McCain should pick a vanquished Republican adversary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, as his vice presidential running mate.

“Romney for vice,” was one sign held up by people in the crowd.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (McCain speaks at town hall meeting in Miami)

WASHINGTON - As if Republicans in the House of Representatives don’t already have enough to worry about, they now will have to unexpectedly defend another open seat in November.

Conservative Rep. Vito Fossella said in a letter to his constituents that he will not run for a sixth term representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, New York. Earlier this month he was charged in a Washington, D.C. suburb with driving under the influence of alcohol and he later reportedly admitted having an extramarital affair.

“This choice was an extremely difficult one, balanced between my dedication to service to our great nation and the need to concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family,” Fossella said in the letter posted on his congressional Web site.

Fossella said he will serve out the end of his term, but his decision not to seek re-election adds to the daunting battle Republicans already face in November to regain control of the House from Democrats.

More than two dozen Republicans have decided to retire or run for another political office and they have lost three special elections this year in predominantly Republican districts which sparked widespread alarm in the party.

- Photo credit: Reuters/ (Fossella in 2000 presents legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to then-New York Cardinal John O’Connor.)

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky - Katelyn Jenkins got a surprise visit from Sen. Hillary Clinton on one of the biggest days of her life so far. But odds are, she didn’t even notice.

The eight-week-old girl was getting baptised on Sunday morning at the State Street United Methodist Church, where the Democratic presidential contender paused in her campaigning to attend services.

At the sight of the former first lady, the baby’s father said: “I was pleasantly surprised and amazed.”

As for the red-haired baby in her father’s arms, she slept a bit, looked around a bit and fussed a bit.

“She just knew there was a big crowd, and everyone was looking at her,” said the baby’s father, adding that he was ”possibly” a Clinton supporter. The candidate briefly chatted with the baby’s parents after the service ended.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit:  Reuters/Jason Reed (Clinton speaks at her West Virginia Presidential Primary night rally in Charleston, West Virginia on May 13, 2008)

ROSEBURG, Oregon - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama appears ready to put his opponent, Hillary Clinton, into the past tense of the grueling primary campaign.

When asked on Saturday at a rally in Roseburg about party unity, the Illinois senator acknowledged people’s concerns about the length of the nominating process but assured them that Democrats would come out united in the end.

“It was pretty tough and hard fought,” he said about the primary season, describing the former first lady as a “formidable opponent.”

“She was relentless and very effective.”

Was? Note the use of the past tense.

Obama has not wrapped up the nomination and Clinton is still campaigning hard in the remaining primary states.

But the Obama campaign has shifted its focus, at least partly, onto a general election against Republican John McCain. Obama stopped in Michigan and Missouri this week and intends to campaign in Florida and Iowa next week, all of which are states that have already voted and will be crucial to a Democratic win in the fall.

Clinton is seen winning Kentucky on Tuesday while Obama is expected to take Oregon, at which point the campaign predicts he will have more than half of the pledged delegates needed to help secure the nomination. Superdelegates — party leaders and elected officials with the deciding vote in this close race — will follow from there, his camp believes.

Clinton has said she will stay in the race until there is a nominee. The last nominating contest is on June 3. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Richard Clement (Obama waits to speak as he is introduced at a town hall campaign event)