Bush slipping in S.C., nation

When President Bush arrives in Charleston today, he will find a growing number of anxious Republicans who are worried about his re-election prospects.

They cite a recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll showing U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic front-runner, defeating Bush 53 percent to 46 percent. U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina edges Bush, 49 percent to 48 percent.

“I believe Bush is in trouble, but I think he will get out of it,” says Joe Mack, former vice chairman of the Lexington County Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Bush’s job approval rating has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in his presidency — to 49 percent.

For a week, Democratic candidates bashed Bush in South Carolina’s first-in-the-South presidential primary. He was pummeled daily on the stump and in the media. Residents heard bitter criticism of the incumbent Republican for days. It obviously took its toll.

Bush comes to Charleston just two days after Democrats have cleared out.

The official reason for the president’s trip is to discuss his anti-terrorism agenda.

“It’s a political tactic,” says Robert Jeffrey, a political scientist at Wofford College in Spartanburg. “I have to think it’s a good idea.”

College of Charleston analyst Bill Moore says it’s a way for Bush to “reinforce and reassure” his base.

“There’s been a whole month of solid criticism of his presidency. Here’s a way to counter it through an official visit,” Moore says.

State Democratic Party chairman Joe Erwin says the president’s visit doesn’t bother him at all.

“It’s good for the president to visit our state,” he says. “Look at the timing of the visit. There is a political motivation. He has a political agenda. There’s nothing wrong with that. It raises the debate.”

Bush easily won South Carolina in 2000, getting 57 percent of the vote against Democrat and former Vice President Al Gore.

Republicans can expect a tougher race this year, given the softening of Bush’s support in the GOP community.

Earl Ware, a retired railroad worker, is concerned about the mounting deficits under Bush. He also doesn’t like the Bush proposal to open the borders to more immigrants.

“I’d like to see Bush have some good solid competition,” he says. “It doesn’t hurt; it’s good for you.”

A week ago, Bush popped up in New Hampshire two days after the nation’s first presidential primary. He talked about his proposed $2.4 trillion budget, but the reasons for the trip were clear — to deflect a barrage of criticism leveled at him by Democratic candidates in that state.

Bush last came to South Carolina in November when he visited the Greer BMW plant and raised $1.6 million at a fund-raiser in Greenville. It was a record for his campaign and raised twice as much money in one day as Bush raised in South Carolina in all of 2000.

This will be the president’s seventh visit to the state since taking office.

Former state Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian says today’s visit “is an indication that Bush is in trouble.”

Not so, says state GOP chairman Katon Dawson, before adding, “We’re not taking anything for granted. We run every race in South Carolina as if we’re one vote behind. The Republican Party has never been stronger than it is today.”

If indeed the president is worried about the Palmetto State, Moore says, then Bush is in serious trouble nationally.

South Carolina is one of the most solidly Republican states in presidential elections, rivaled only by Idaho and Utah.

But one issue South Carolina Republicans are worried about is the growing deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office projects at nearly $2.4 trillion during the next decade. That provides new fuel for an election-year battle over soaring federal shortfalls.

Columbia attorney Douglas McKay is appalled.

“I’m worried about this election. I’m concerned Bush could lose it, and there isn’t one Democrat running that I’d want to be president.”