Crist Himself Snubs Bush

[Doug]

DOUG
GOP'ers are avoiding Bush like the plague, except the ones that are plagues themselves.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The White House flashed its irritation at a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Florida who chose not to appear Monday with President Bush. But if Bush was angry, he didn't show it.

"He's experienced. He's compassionate," Bush said about Charlie Crist who was campaigning elsewhere when Bush showed up for a rally in Pensacola.

Bush urged voters to elect Crist as well as a slate of other GOP candidates, including Rep. Katherine Harris, who is mounting a lukewarm challenge to Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Before the September primary, Republican leaders failed to support Harris, who sat in the audience, not on stage with Bush.

The audience, which practiced foot-stomping to country music tunes before Bush arrived, cheered him when he noted the conviction of Saddam Hussein. They clapped when he lambasted Democrats and what he said was their lack of a plan to fight the war on terror. And they booed the Democrats when he said they want to raise taxes.

"As you're going to those polls, if you want your taxes low, vote Republican," Bush said. "And as you go to the polls, remember we're at war. And if you want this country to do everything in its power to protect you and at the same time lay a foundation for peace for generations to come, vote Republican."

With that, metallic red white and blue metallic confetti poured over the crowd.

...Crist said he considered the Pensacola area so firmly in his camp that it made more sense to campaign elsewhere as the race tightened to replace outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush.

White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, the president's top political strategist, mockingly questioned what kind of alternate rally Crist could put together that would rival the expected 10,000-person crowd that Bush was expected to draw at the Pensacola Civic Center. The total attendance was several thousand less.

"All I know is that yesterday morning, they apparently made a decision that rather than being with the governor and the president and 10,000 people in Pensacola, they made a last-minute decision to go to Palm Beach," Rove said.

"Let's see how many people show up in Palm Beach on 24 hours notice versus 8- or 9,000 people in Pensacola."

The White House already had distributed schedules saying Crist would introduce Bush at the rally. Jeb Bush introduced him instead...

Read the rest here.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

I don't know why they even bothered. With the Diebold machines already flipping votes, it may take divine intervention (which I don't believe in) to take Florida away from the Rs (except in K. Harris race).