WARREN, Mich. (AP) - With precious air time still left to buy before Election Day, President Bush raised money Thursday for two Republican candidates trying to knock off Democratic incumbents in an uphill year for the GOP. The president was in the final days of a nearly two-year-long effort of unmatched fundraising for dozens of Republican candidates across the country. The president has raised more than $193 million in nearly 90 events, according to the Republican National Committee, a figure that dwarfs what any other individual has raised for Republicans or for Democrats.
Bush swung through Des Moines at lunchtime to raise $400,000 for the Iowa Republican Party and congressional candidate Jeff Lamberti, whom he mistakenly called "Dave" throughout his speech. Then he headed to the Detroit suburbs for an early evening fundraiser that brought in $700,000 for Senate hopeful Mike Bouchard.
Bush hammered the same themes that he has been using against the Democrats all fall—they are tax raisers who are soft on terror. Democrats charge that the rhetoric is just an attempt to distract from Bush's failed track record in Iraq.
An AP-AOL News poll, taken this week, shows voters are frustrated with the war in Iraq and will cast their votes on Nov. 7 accordingly. Forty percent of likely voters say they're angry with Bush. More than half say they plan to vote Democratic. The president's job approval rating stands at 38 percent.
Bush made an appeal to conservatives by stressing the themes of immigration and gay marriage. Before he left the White House, the president signed a law calling for 700 miles of additional fencing along the Mexico border. He also denounced a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that gay couples are entitled to all the benefits of married couples.
"Yesterday in New Jersey we had another activist court that issued a ruling that raises doubts about the institution of marriage," Bush said. "I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman. And I believe it's a sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society and the well-being of families, and it must be defended."
Republicans expect to lose seats to Democratic newcomers overall this year, a time of trouble in Iraq and scandals affecting a handful of GOP lawmakers. They hope to control the losses by taking some Democratic seats, like those in Michigan and Iowa.
Lamberti, whose family founded the Casey's General Stores empire of nearly 1,400 Midwest convenience stores, is running against Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell, an Army veteran and former state senator who has been in Congress for 10 years. Bouchard, who has been the Oakland County sheriff since 1999, trails first-term Sen. Debbie Stabenow in the polls and is even further behind in the money race.
Stabenow has raised more than $12 million since becoming a senator in Bouchard had reported raising about $4.6 million as of Sept. 30.
Stabenow's campaign suggested that Bush's visit would do nothing to help Bouchard, comparing it to "throwing an anvil to a drowning man."
In Iowa, GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle avoided appearing with the president and sent his running mate to represent him. Nussle said a scheduling conflict prevented him from joining Bush, but that didn't stop Nussle's opponent, Democrat Chet Culver, from accusing Nussle of "running and hiding" from Bush because of the president's low approval numbers.
So far, Bush's political events have been exclusively before donors willing to pay to see him—usually $1,000 a person. Bush's first free appearances will be Monday in Statesboro, Ga., and Sugar Land, Texas—in reliably Republican areas where he is more popular.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said those rallies will continue through Nov. 7 when voters go to the polls, although his schedule will have some flexibility so he can help raise money for any candidates who need a final funding boost.
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