DNC: "GOP Happy to Be As Far Away From Bush As Possible"

[madfloridian]

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/11/lame_duck_bush.php

As GOP Members of Congress Worry About 2006...

GOP Rep. Christopher Shays: "Every Republican Will Get Fewer Votes in '06 Because of Bush.

"'Every Republican member of Congress will get fewer votes because President Bush fails to come to grips with cleaning up the White House,' said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, another of the vulnerable Republicans. 'People may not say has a great intellect, but integrity was the one strength he had,' Shays said." Hartford Courant, 11/14/05

GOP Rep. Rob Simmons: Won't Campaign With Bush; "I Do Better Campaigning Myself."

"Rob Simmons, like many of his vulnerable GOP congressional colleagues, is likely to spend the next year trying to make voters forget he's a Republican. 'If voters make a partisan choice,' he said, 'I lose...' Neither Bush nor any other controversial Republican leader is likely to visit Simmons' district - or the home turf of any other vulnerable incumbent - anytime soon. 'I haven't invited the president,' Simmons said. 'I suspect I do better campaigning myself. I'm the candidate, not him.'"

GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth: Does Not Want Bush to Campaign With Him.

"One House Republican was considerably more blunt than Santorum. Asked if he would want Bush to campaign for him in Arizona, Rep. J.D. Hayworth replied on 'Imus in the Morning' show: 'In a word, no. Not at this time.'"

GOP Rep. Anne Northup: Not Sure Campaigning With Bush in 2006 is a "Good Idea."

"That's one of those things where I think you have to wait and see whether that would be a good idea," said Northup on whether she wants Bush to campaign with her in 2006.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum: Distancing Himself From Bush on Iraq War.

"Sen. Rick Santorum took a rare swing Friday at President Bush, saying the war in Iraq has been less than optimal and that some blame for that lies with the White House. Santorum, a conservative Republican and usually a strong Bush ally, said the unpopularity of the war should be shared between the White House and the media. 'Certainly, mistakes were made,' Santorum said of the war's conduct... The comments, made after a Veterans Day speech at the Union League in Philadelphia, came at the same time the Pennsylvania senator stressed he wasn't trying to distance himself from the president, who spoke moments earlier about 80 miles away at the Tobyhanna Army Depot."

GOP Senator Mike DeWine: Only Cautiously Backing Bush on Iraq War.

"Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), who is up for reelection next year, also is far more cautious than Bush in his comments about the war's course. DeWine said that when he was asked about the issue by worried constituents, 'I tell them the jury is still out. People are very concerned.'"

...2005 GOP Campaigns Lament Bush's Negative Coattails
NJ GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Doug Forrester: "Bush's Numbers" Led to His Defeat.

"The Republican who lost New Jersey's bitter gubernatorial race said he would have won had President George W. Bush's popularity not been sagging. Doug Forrester, who lost to Democrat Jon Corzine by about 9 percentage points last week, told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark that dissatisfaction with Bush made it impossible for him to overcome the Democrats' advantages. 'If Bush's numbers were where they were a year ago, or even six months ago, I think we would have won on Tuesday,' Forrester said."

Local GOP Leaders: Kaine Did Even Better Than Warner; Bush's "Plummeting Popularity" Contributed.

"As political pundits sifted through the results of Tuesday's gubernatorial election, they found a surprise: Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, won Northern Virginia's two rapidly growing outer counties, Prince William and Loudoun, long considered to be reliably Republican. ... The reasons are varied, and involve changing demographics, how Kilgore and Kaine ran their campaigns and, to some extent, Bush's plummeting popularity, some say."