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.)

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.)

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.)

WASHINGTON - Democrats captured another Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night during a special election in Mississippi, the third such victory this election cycle.

Yet another loss will likely strike fear in the hearts of many Republicans who are worried that it could have even bigger ramifications this November as they try to claw their way back to a majority.

In the race to represent northern Mississippi, Republican Greg Davis lost to Travis Childers despite a last-minute effort by Vice President Dick Cheney to woo voters at a campaign fundraiser for Davis on Monday. Childers will have to run again in November, this time for a full two-year term.

He will fill a seat vacated by Rep. Roger Wicker who was appointed to fill Sen. Trent Lott’s seat and expands the Democratic House majority to 236-199.

“His victory has sent a thunderbolt across America tonight,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Van Hollen also tried to broaden the meaning of the victory, arguing it was not only a setback for House Republicans but also “the Bush administration’s misguided policies and John McCain’s campaign for a third Bush term,” referring to the presumed Republican presidential nominee.

And a top House Republican appeared similarly grim in his assessment of the loss.

“The results … should serve as a wake-up call to Republican candidates nationwide,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “As I’ve said before, this is a change election, and if we want Americans to vote for us we have to convince them that we can fix Washington.”

Earlier this year, Democrats won the Illinois seat held by the previous Republican House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, and captured the Louisiana seat held by departing Republican Richard Baker.

Are voters sending Republicans a message or are these isolated victories for Democrats?

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi takes the podium for the first time in January in her new position)

WASHINGTON - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are often described by many in the party as the dream team to recapture the White House in 2008 regardless who is atop the ticket. 

Clinton, whose presidential bid has been faltering in recent weeks, had previously hinted that she was open to the idea.  And now as Obama closes in on winning the party’s presidential nomination, he has not closed the door on Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.

If Clinton fails to mount a come-from-behind win, will her supporters be satisfied with the No. 2 spot and will Obama’s backers fear that she could hurt his chances of capturing the White House or possibly upstage him?

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader John Boehner on Wednesday shrugged off a warning that his fellow Republicans are facing peril in the fall elections unless they change course, a prediction made by a former Republican House speaker. 
 
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned on Tuesday that Republicans must immediately “chart a bold course of real change” otherwise they will “suffer decisive losses this November.”
   
That apparently didn’t sit too well with Boehner as he faces an uphill battle to reclaim control of the U.S. House of Representatives since more than two dozen fellow House Republicans are leaving this fall or running for another office. And last weekend, they lost a Republican seat in Louisiana in a special election.
 
“Listen a lot of people have a lot of ideas and advice for me and our leadership team about what it is that we should do,” Boehner told reporters after a meeting with President George W. Bush at the White House.
 
“I tell our colleagues every week, if you stand up and do the right things for the right reasons, the right things will happen,” Boehner said. “And frankly, we have been standing up for the right things that the American people want us to.”
 
The Ohio Republican argued that their efforts to cut taxes and expand exploration for oil and gas in the United States served as evidence that they were on the right path for the November elections. 
 
“There’s a whole array of issues that I think where we’re representing the interests of the American people,” Boehner said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Boehner after a meeting with Bush at the White House)

WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s former pastor, pinned the blame on the media for the controversy over his fiery sermons, saying they misinterpreted his remarks and the ensuing criticism was an attack on the black church.
 
Obama has tried to distance himself from Wright, criticizing him for remarks that have included charges that the Sept. 11 attacks were an act of retaliation for U.S. policy and that the government may have created the AIDS virus to kill black people.
 
On Monday, Wright argued during a National Press Club speech that reporters did not listen to his entire sermons so they did not understand the context of his remarks and that people who question his patriotism are off the mark.
 
“I feel that those citizens who say that have never heard my sermons, nor do they know me.  They are unfair accusations taken from sound bites and that which is looped over and over again on certain channels,” he said. “I served six years in the military.  Does that make me patriotic?”

“How many years did Cheney serve?” he said, referring to Vice President Dick Cheney’s deferrals from the military draft. For his full remarks, click here. 
 
Does Wright’s remarks clear the air, does it help or hurt Obama, or has the issue run its course? 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Wright speaks to the National Press Club).

WASHINGTON - Most of the Bush clan have already thrown their support behind the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, with one new notable exception — President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna.

The president rolled out the red carpet at the White House last month to endorse McCain’s candidacy after he clinched the delegates for the Republican nomination. The White House hosted a lunch and Rose Garden photo-op for the Arizona senator.

When interviewed on CNN’s “Larry King Live” Wednesday night to promote a children’s book she wrote with her mother Laura, Jenna left the door open to possibly backing another candidate.

Here’s the transcript:

KING: Do you have a favorite between the two, the two Democrats?

L. BUSH: My favorite is the Republican.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Yours, too, I would imagine.

J. BUSH: I don’t know.

KING: A-ha.

J. BUSH: But, I mean, you know…

KING: Are you open to…

J. BUSH: Yes, of course. I mean, who isn’t open to learning about the candidates? But, I mean, and I’m sure everybody is like that. But I really — I honestly have been too busy with books to really pay that much attention.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Ray Stubblebine (Laura and Jenna Bush wave to people standing in line for signed copies of their new children’s book.)

WASHINGTON - One interesting tidbit that came out of the exit polling from Pennsylvania Democratic voters is that a large majority believe the U.S. economy is already in recession — contrary what the current president said on Tuesday.
    
A whopping 88 percent of voters in Pennsylvania — a state trying to transition from steel and coal industries to high-tech and medical research — said the U.S. economy was in a recession, with 42 percent saying it was a serious recession and 47 percent said it was a moderate contraction, according to exit poll data on CNN’s Web site (page 5 of data).
 
On Tuesday, President George W. Bush cited the most recent economic data showing small growth in the fourth quarter of 2007. But he also acknowledged that the first quarter figures had not yet been released.
 
“We’re not in a recession.  We’re in a slowdown,” Bush said after meetings with leaders of Canada and Mexico. “We haven’t had first quarter growth statistics yet. But there’s no question we’re in a slowdown.”
 
Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both said the economy was in a recession as has Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain.
 
But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Wednesday such pronouncements were a little early in the game. 
    
“We don’t have data yet and it’s a little premature to declare it so definitively as a recession because the data isn’t in,” she told reporters.
 
The Commerce Department is due to release the GDP figures for the first quarter on April 30, which is also when the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate-setting committee will announce whether it is cutting rates again. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni (shoppers browse food aisles at discount retailer Wal-mart.)

WASHINGTON - As Democrats go to the polls on Tuesday to pick between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as their presidential nominee, the Bush administration said on Monday they will be keeping a close eye on the voting.
 
Citing previous allegations that the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, had violated voting rights laws, the Bush administration’s Justice Department announced it would monitor the primary contest.

A year ago, the city settled with the government over the allegations, agreeing to provide additional Spanish-speaking poll officials, to give additional training for election workers, and to ensure better access for disabled voters, among other things.
 
“Philadelphia has an obligation to provide all election information, ballots and voting assistance information in Spanish pursuant to Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act,” the department said. “The monitors will gather information concerning compliance with this requirement and other federal voting rights statutes.”
 
The Justice Department said it had almost 1,600 monitors watching 119 elections in 24 states during the 2006 election year.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Bradley Bower (Obama at a rally outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia)