Bush visits Phila. area in push for '04 election

President George W. Bush's campaign trail took him through Philadelphia's suburbs this week as he continued fundraising efforts for his 2004 re-election campaign.

Approximately 775 people stood in the rain at a facility in Drexel Hill to hear the president speak. About 25 Penn students, among them members of the University's College Republicans chapter, also came to show their support.

The College Republicans are beginning to mount a campaign to help the president with his re-election bid, according to David Copley, the group's past chairman and a former Daily Pennsylvanian columnist.

"We are going to be aggressive in bringing the president's message to the suburbs," Copley said. "This is Bush country."

According to Bush-Cheney spokesman Kevin Madden, at least $1.25 million in support of Bush's re-election campaign was raised at Monday's $2,000 per person event.

In his half-hour speech, Bush urged his supporters to get involved in his campaign early, to build a strong grassroots effort and to continue focusing on the future of the United States.

"I'm going to count on you for more than just contributions; I need your help," he told his supporters, according to his campaign Web site.

"I need you to put up the signs, to mail out the brochures. When you go to the coffee shop, you look them in the eye and you tell them this administration has got a hopeful and optimistic vision for every single American."

The president spent most of his time touting previous successes, including education reform efforts such as the "No Child Left Behind Act" and the creation and organization of the Department of Homeland Security -- which is directed by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.

Bush's visit to the area is important to his effort to win Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes next fall.

Although the Philadelphia suburbs typically vote Republican in lower-level elections, no Republican presidential candidate has carried the county since George H.W. Bush did so in 1992.

"The president looks at every vote as one that we can get come 2004 when we go into campaign mode," Madden said.

"He has wonderful grass-roots support, and part of the reason he does these fundraisers is to thank these people."

Present at Monday's event were politicians including Pennsylvania Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. Connie Katz, the wife of current Philadelphia Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz, was also in attendance.

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