Bush Spokesman Sizes Up Campaign

By Bobby Eberle
Talon News
September 1, 2004

Bush Campaign Spokesman Terry Holt told Talon News on Tuesday that the recent rise of President George W. Bush in the polls is both "encouraging and surprising." Holt said that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry expected a significant bounce following the Democratic convention in Boston last month, but that lead "never materialized."

Holt said that Kerry's vacillations on national security have hurt him.

"Some of our advertising right now points out that Kerry didn't attend most of the intelligence meetings [while he was on the Senate Intelligence Committee] that he was responsible for attending," Holt explained. "People hear that and conclude that Kerry's not ready for prime time."

Holt told Talon News that the combination of ads designed to highlight President Bush's accomplishments plus the fact that Kerry's record is now under examination has given the campaign "a tiny advantage but one that we can't take for granted."

When asked by Talon News about the influence of so-called "527" political action groups, Holt said that the Bush Campaign planned that the money poured into them by left-leaning individuals would be significant.

"When I first came to work, Bush/Cheney Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman said we are going to be outspent," Holt explained. "As soon as we went on the air in battleground markets, the 527s, with close to the same amount of money, would be there too."

"We'd choose a market, say in St. Louis, and be on at a certain level, and then a day later MoveOn.org would be on," Holt said. "So, they basically covered Kerry and neutralized any advantage we might have had financially."

Holt noted that the message from Kerry and the Democrats has been "far more angrier, far more out of the main stream, and the president has remained a very durable figure."

"The American people know him," Holt explained. "They feel more comfortable with him. Ultimately it's going to be about who makes a better commander-in-chief and who connects better with the American people."

When asked about structuring a campaign that touches on past achievements and projects a vision for the future, Holt said it is a balance.

"And it's different for each candidate," Holt said. "The president has shown results and has proven himself under very difficult circumstances. A lot of the things we have to do over the next four years are building on the foundation of the first term."

Holt added, "The president's accomplishments are important because people talk about a polarized electorate and a divided nation, but the president's major domestic success are bipartisan accomplishments -- education, medicare, department of homeland security."

Talon News asked Holt if the Bush campaign worries that references to New York and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 would be taken out of context or be labeled as politicizing the tragedy.

"From the very beginning of our campaign, we've said that you can't have a presidential campaign without acknowledging that the world is different after 9/11," Holt replied. "You cannot separate the decisions people are going to make from the circumstances we find ourselves in."

Holt added, "We've been respectful in our treatment of 9/11, and you can contrast this with Michael Moore. He's says he's using 9/11 to make a political statement, but he's really doing it to make money."