Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 11:19 a.m. CDT
It is no accident that Laura Bush has been dispatched to Connecticut today.
Since President Bush took office, the first lady has been among his biggest assets. She has traveled across the country and the globe, promoting the Bush administration its policies through a rose-colored light. And by nearly all accounts she has been successful.
But her trip to Connecticut highlights what could be her toughest assignment yet: campaigning for at-risk Republicans in the midterm election campaign.It would be difficult to find a collection of Republicans from the same state who are more jittery about the national political mood than this trio: Reps. Nancy Johnson, Rob Simmons and Chris Shays. The three moderate members of Congress, all facing competitive races in the fall, will benefit from a fundraising reception the first lady is holding tonight in Stamford.
Throughout the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, Bush campaigned extensively for her husband’s ticket.
She was one of the key reasons, both Democrats and Republican strategists agree, that the president carried Iowa, a state he lost during his first race. Again and again, the first lady traveled to cities big and small across Iowa, campaigning in places where Democrats were not eager to send Teresa Heinz Kerry.
This year, though, her role is slightly different. While she will continue to stump with candidates, she is stepping up her fundraising role. She remains a true novelty among many Republican contributors.
“While the average donor in Cincinnati might have six pictures of the vice president, they may not have any of her and they’d be excited to see her,” a top Republican official told the Tribune earlier this month.
So with slightly more than six months remaining until Election Day, candidates are already lining up to ask the White House one question: Can Laura come?
