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For Immediate Release November 14, 2005 Contact: Josh Earnest: 202-863-8148 Lame Duck Bush Flies to Asia
GOP Happy to Be As Far Away From Bush As PossibleWashington, DC - As President Bush flies to Asia today, Republican lawmakers back home are worried that Bush's plummeting popularity will hurt their 2006 electoral chances. GOP incumbents from across the country, even some from strong Republican states and districts, have already begun to distance themselves from Bush's failing and unpopular policies. According to the latest Newsweek poll, the President's approval rating is now at an all-time low of 36 percent. 11/12/05]
"As the focus turns to 2006, even conservative Republicans in safe
districts see the lame duck President as an albatross around their
neck," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
"Coming to grips with the failure of their 2005 candidates, Republicans
up-and-down the ballot, all across the country are doing their best to
distance themselves from the President's scandal-plagued Administration,
and his failed policies on the budget, energy prices and the War in
Iraq. Democratic candidates in 2006 will present an alternate vision
that focuses on uniting Americans and focusing on their priorities.
Democrats believe that together America can do better."
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."
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. 10/24/05]
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."
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