Bush Meshes Official, Political Stops to Cut Campaign Costs

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush28may28.story

May 28, 2004 E-mail story Print


THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Bush Meshes Official, Political Stops to Cut Campaign Costs
A candidate can foot less of the bill on trips financed by taxpayers. Presidents of both parties have used the strategy, which is legal.

By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer


NASHVILLE — Sitting on a stool, microphone in hand, President Bush shared a stage Thursday with a doctor, a patient and the mother of a sick child as he hosted a discussion on medical technology. The images were tailor-made for TV: a concerned leader engaged on an important matter of public policy.

But Bush soon left the cameras for a private residence nearby and the event that brought him to town in the first place — a fundraiser that netted $1.7 million for the Republican National Committee.

Such is life these days for Bush, who stopped raising money for his own campaign last month but now is aggressively helping his party beef up its bank account to orchestrate what GOP officials say will be the most sophisticated and expansive get-out-the-vote effort in history this November.

In the last month, Bush often has attended GOP events and conducted taxpayer-financed business while on the same trips outside of Washington. He delivered the commencement address at Louisiana State University before raising $2 million near New Orleans, spoke to graduates of a Wisconsin college shortly after taking in $2.2 million in nearby St. Louis, and hailed his commitment to the environment near a Florida bay before pulling in more than $4 million for the Republican National Committee in Naples and Miami.<snip>

The law requires the campaign to pay the equivalent of a first-class ticket for Bush and other campaign-related staffers when they travel to campaign events on Air Force One.<snip>