Republicans Unsure of Bush's Chances for 2004 Election

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

*****   Posted on Fri, Oct. 03, 2003
Republicans unsure of Bush's chances for 2004 election
By Ron Hutcheson and Steven Thomma
Knight Ridder Newspapers
CHUCK KENNEDY, KRT
President Bush speaks at the White House.

WASHINGTON - In a sharp reversal, Republicans who just months ago
daydreamed about a 2004 election landslide now worry that President
Bush is losing control of events at home and abroad and faces a real
chance of leading the party to defeat.

At home, anxiety about the economy is escalating and respect for Bush
is sinking. His domestic agenda has stalled in Congress.

Abroad, troubles in Iraq and Afghanistan have eroded Bush's
traditional Republican advantage on foreign policy. His calls for
international help in Iraq have gone unanswered. And in both
countries, Americans continue to die in guerrilla attacks. . . .

Complicating matters for Bush is the possibility of a full-blown
scandal involving allegations that someone in his White House
revealed the identity of a CIA officer out of political spite at the
officer's spouse. The ensuing political firestorm, not to mention the
Justice Department investigation, could further hurt Bush's standing.
. . .

Job growth typically lags behind overall economic revival, and it has
not yet become strong or sustained. Even with September's addition of
57,000 jobs, the unemployment rate remains at 6.1 percent, and the
country still has nearly 3 million fewer jobs than when Bush took
office.

Iraq is the other political wild card.

Bush's recent request for an additional $87 billion largely to shore
up Iraq helped crystallize nagging questions many Americans had about
the continuing deaths of American soldiers months after Bush flew
triumphantly to an aircraft carrier to pose beneath a banner
declaring "mission accomplished." A majority of Americans oppose
Bush's $87 billion request.

It didn't help Bush that this week the top U.S. general in Iraq said
"this is still wartime," and chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay
reported that he has found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. .
. .

<http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/6926616.htm>   *****
--
Yoshie

* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>