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Skriven 2006-11-02 23:32:32 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0611026) for Thu, 2006 Nov 2
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Press Gaggle by Senior Administration Official
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 2, 2006

Press Gaggle by Senior Administration Official
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Elko, Nevada



1:38 P.M. MST

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: All right. Fire away.

Q Can you just go over the rest of the schedule, and the stops he's making,
and why he's going there?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We're heading, right now, obviously, to
Elko, to support Dean Heller and the Republican ticket there. He'll be with
Jim Gibbons, running for governor, and John Ensign, obviously, running for
reelection.

Tomorrow we head to Missouri. We'll do two stops there. We'll be in
Springfield and we'll be in Joplin, Missouri, and then we head up to Iowa,
actually to Le Mars, Iowa, just north of Sioux City, a few miles, for Jim
Nussle and the Republican ticket there. And then Saturday he is in Colorado
for Marilyn Musgrave. And then down to the ranch.

And then Sunday we are in Nebraska and Topeka, Kansas. Nebraska for Adrian
Smith and the ticket, and Topeka for Jim Ryun who is up for reelection.
Then finally on Monday we'll be in Florida, in Northwest Florida, and
Arkansas for Asa Hutchinson, and then finally in Texas, in Dallas, for Rick
Perry.

Q Who are you promoting in Florida?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Charlie Crist and the ticket there, the
entire ticket. These are all victory events, they will benefit the entire
ticket.

Q In Missouri, is McCaskill cutting in Talent's rural base?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Certainly if you look at what the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has done, they have made an effort
to focus a lot of their resources there, as has our campaign. So it's
important that we turn out the Republican vote there, and certainly that's
the purpose of our visit, is to focus on GOTV.

Q What's the President's relevance right now? He's going to Republican
states, all 10 states that he carried. So he's got a pretty narrow mission
here, doesn't he, in the final days?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, we're focusing his energy on places
where he can best turn out the vote for Republican candidates. These are
all races that are close. These are all races that are likely going to come
down to turnout. And so that's the nature of all these visits.

Q But he's a liability in some of your other states that are tight, like in
Ohio or even Tennessee.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He has been in all those states. He's
campaigned with all those candidates. He's helped raise a lot of resources.
He's done more events in 2002 -- I'm sorry, in 2006 cycle than he did in
the 2002 cycle. We specifically focused in areas where we knew would be
competitive two years ago, early, to make sure they had the resources, and
now this is about Republican turnout. These are all competitive races and
areas where he can really step up the vote.

Q A question about Gibbons. Is he concerned about campaigning for Gibbons,
given the ethical cloud that's hanging over him right now?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, we're focused, obviously, on turnout
up in that part of the state, and particularly that congressional district.
Jim Gibbons has addressed his issues. He's been a great member of Congress,
he'll be a great governor. The President is happy to campaign with him.

Q You're not concerned about the charges that he's facing?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He's addressed those charges, and I'll let
his words speak for themselves. The President is happy to campaign with
him.

Q What was the experience after the President went into Sherwood's
district? Did you have any polling or any --

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Q Anyway, he's going into this district, Jim Gibbon's district, where
there's this ethical cloud hanging over. He went into Don Sherwood's
district. And so I'm wondering what the impact was when he did that before?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I think it was certainly a positive
impact for the Congressman. He remains in a very tough race. He was in a
tough race before the visit. He remains in a tough race today. Certainly,
that was an important opportunity to raise funds for the Congressman's
campaign, and for the victory effort in the state, which will benefit the
entire ticket. And so we'll see what happens on Election Day.

Q Has there been any polling or anything to show if there was a bump after
his visit?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I have seen internal things, internal
surveys, which I really can't comment on.

Q Why is the President going to campaign for Nussle, who is running for
governor? Isn't he worried about members of Congress?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He's campaigning, you'll see -- first of
all, these are all -- every one of these events will benefit every
Republican in that area. He's campaigning for members of the House. He's
campaigning for members of the Senate. He's campaigning for candidates for
governor on this final swing, but he did that throughout the cycle. And Jim
Nussle is an important race. It's an excellent opportunity for our party to
pick up a governor's mansion this cycle, and this is the area of the state
where historically Republicans who don't succeed statewide usually
under-perform, in Western Iowa, under-perform in turning out their base. So
this is a good opportunity.

And I'll remind you, in 2004, this is where the President went at the
closing days of the campaign which really boosted our -- his ability to win
Iowa.

Q Do you see some areas of additional spending on both sides, like you
know, you guys are spending in Michigan and --

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And Maryland.

Q -- and Maryland.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And New Jersey.

Q But where do you see the hottest action right now? I mean for you guys,
is Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia still the firewall? Has that changed?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Certainly those are the three most
competitive Republican states today. I would argue, based on everything
I've seen, that Conrad Burns has really made great inroads in his election,
and is now tied, essentially, today. We are hopeful and believe strongly,
as these events over time have proven out, will really be a good boost for
the turnout. So today's visit was very timely. But, you know, we're
optimistic about New Jersey, and we find when we're competitive
dollars-wise with Democrats, given the ethical clouds hanging over the
current senator, that's a real good opportunity.

Michael Steele is within striking distance. There's a lot of mixed polling
out of Michigan. I think that's still a tough race, but the NRSC is
invested there in the final days. The DSCC has countered in Arizona. It
strikes me that that was more of a way to say, well, since they went up in
Maryland and Michigan we'd better do something else to go on offensive.

Q But of all these places you're in in these few days -- you mentioned
Florida being there for the governor's race, and the ticket, you talked
about congressional races -- these are two Senate races in Montana and
Missouri. If I'm missing something, those are the only two Senate races
you're diving into at this point. Are these the two that you fear most?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: These are the two where we believe the
President can have the biggest impact on turnout. And given the calculation
you make in terms of all the schedule and where you need to be and how to
best boost turnout and who needs help, those are the two where it made the
best sense to travel to.

Q Speaking of calculations, a market like this, you go to a market -- the
candidates have to spend a lot of money to get the President here, money
they're not spending on TV. In a market like Billings, a spot costs a lot
less than New York, New Jersey, and all that. How do you strike that
balance?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It's a very good question. And certainly
when you think of -- in '02, we were under different campaign finance laws.
So a lot of these parties used soft dollars -- used a split, soft
dollars-hard dollars split to pay for these events. And now they are all
hard dollar events. And so it's another reason why when you're in a
particularly Republican area, as a few of these visits are, for the
Congress at least, you have -- your dollar, your bang for your buck goes a
lot farther with an event like this than in certain other parts of -- other
competitive states. Does that make sense?

Q I would think it would be a better bang for the buck in a larger market
where a media buy would cost a lot more.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, I actually think the opposite because
it's the -- in a smaller community, you get so much more buzz. You get --
you go into Philadelphia, you might get a little clip the night before, you
might get a few seconds of news that day. You go into western Nebraska and
you get three days of coverage, wall-to-wall coverage.

Q He's hammering away on the Iraq war pretty hard. There are some Democrats
who think that will help their turnout. What do you think about that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think it's important to remind people of
the stakes in the election. And that's exactly what the President does. The
country -- this is the most important issue in the campaign and certainly
many people have expressed their vote -- they're going to the polls and
they will be voting on this issue. It's really important that he make the
case and talks about the stakes and why it's critical for the country to
succeed.

Q What about independent voters? Most of them are cutting toward the
Democratic side this time, according to the polls, so far. How do you
assess that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, certainly we're heading into a
midterm where you'll have much lower turnout and they will be a factor in
races, there's no question about it.

Q (Inaudible.)

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, there are several keys in an
election. I would argue the most important thing in a midterm is turning
out your base. And independents, certainly you can't take for granted. They
will play a role. The question is what percent of them will turn out.

END 1:49 P.M. MST

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