Bush turns to party roots for re-election [View All]

[T_i_B]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-949103,00.html

PRESIDENT BUSH began the new year with an aggressive call-to-arms to the Republican grassroots yesterday, urging them to give him a second term in office and deriding his Democrat opponents as angry left-wingers.

In a fundraising letter to thousands of Republican supporters, Mr Bush said that the battle among Democrats to choose their presidential candidate would be won by the man who has energised his “party’s left wing with angry attacks”.

The e-mail letter from Mr Bush signals a surprisingly early presidential attack on the Democrats and previews one of the key themes of his re-election campaign: that Democrat contenders, and most notably Howard Dean, the front-runner, are out of touch with mainstream America and offer only criticism, while he will espouse an “optimistic, compassionate conservative philosophy”.

Unlike in recent elections, when candidates worked assiduously to court swing voters, Democrats and Republicans believe that the contest in November is more likely to be won by the party most successful at getting its core supporters to the voting booth. National polls suggest that the country remains evenly divided after the disputed 2000 election.