Candidates welcome Bush, despite unpopularity, as GOP cash cow

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Candidates Welcome Bush
Despite Dip in Polls, He's Like a Magnet for GOP Money
By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A07


Slumping poll numbers and rebellion in Republican ranks have been tormenting President Bush for months. But he is still welcomed with open arms -- and checkbooks -- when he comes to town with a promise to raise campaign cash for GOP candidates.

Bush, who smashed fundraising records in back-to-back presidential triumphs, has helped raise more than $50 million this year. He is planning to greatly intensify his political efforts for Republican members of Congress in next year's midterm elections, aides said.

The willingness of candidates to enlist Bush's help suggests that even in a season of discontent, the president retains some powerful political assets, ones that could help him improve his fortunes on Capitol Hill and beyond.

White House aides said they are expecting Bush to host scores of fundraisers for GOP House and Senate candidates in 2006 as way to keep the congressional majority intact and to retain leverage over an increasingly combative GOP Congress. Even with Bush's popularity sagging, Republican lawmakers are betting that the money Bush can bring in is worth any political costs associated with a presidential visit....

***

This is good news for Bush, GOP strategists say. One barometer of presidential popularity is the eagerness of candidates to appear with the chief executive. In 1994, only a few Democratic candidates were willing to appear with Bill Clinton -- foreshadowing then-Rep. Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution" in the midterm elections that fall. On the other hand, even during his second-term sex scandal and impeachment, there were still plenty of Democrats eager for Clinton's help in fundraising....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/08/AR2005120802004.html

[trotsky]

1. It's still early.

They'll use his clout with brainwashed Republicans now to raise money, then dump him like yesterday's garbage once the campaign season starts so they can begin to distance themselves from him.

[Inland]

2. Politics of division still work for raising money

Bush, who is now a walking wedge issue dividing the country, is still able to stir the blood of the small, fevered minority looking for their tax cuts and their theocracy.

[Drum]

3. what a welcome turnaround

in the fortunes of W...the emerging pariah of his own people.

I'm tellin' ya, this is gonna end up just like Oedipus: W blinds self and wanders the land in everlasting shame. We should make him wear a bell, to remind us and our children of the folly of moral corruption, hubris, and self-deception.

[Toots]

4. Has a single day gone by since 2001 that he hasn't been campaigning?

Campaigner in Chief and they used to complain bitterly about Clinton's campaigning and he didn't hold a candle to Bush*. Funny Democrats never bring up Republican quotes from the past but Republicans do so constantly. It is almost as if Republicans spend their time digging for dirt on Democrtats while Democrats spend their time on government....:shrug: Just remember we get back what we put into things...