Bush returns to Grand Rapids

AP PHOTO

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Michigan Governor John Engler share a laugh during a town meeting held in Grand Rapids yesterday.

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) -- The presidential campaign of Texas Gov. George W. Bush headed back to Michigan for the third time in two weeks.

Bush attended a political rally in downtown Grand Rapids last night, and is scheduled to visit the city's Van Andel Institute this morning and appear at a General Motors Corp. plant in Pontiac this afternoon.

"He's here to get out the vote," said Vic Krause, chairman of the Kent County Republican Party. "He has to make a strong showing here, and the Kent County Republicans are really working extensively for him to get out the vote."

Local Republicans learned Monday afternoon that their party's presidential candidate was coming to Grand Rapids.

By Wednesday afternoon, they had given away all 10,000 tickets available for the rally at the Grand Center's Welsh Auditorium.

"By coming here, he's letting the voters in west Michigan know where he stands on the issues and how he can lead this country into the 21st century," Krause said.

"In the process, he'll invigorate voters to turn out at the polls, not just Republicans but also independent voters."

Chad Clanton, a spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party, said Bush has some explaining to do to Michigan voters.

"People are slowly finding out about Bush's failed Texas record," Clanton said.

"At some point, Bush is going to have to come clean and tell people why Texas ranks dead last in the percentage of families without health insurance, why Texas has the dirtiest air and the second-dirtiest water in America, and why he hasn't done a thing to fix these things."

Vice President Al Gore questioned Bush's record as governor on environmental and health issues Wednesday during the second of three scheduled campaign debates between the two men.

Bush, Gore and their running mates have campaigned extensively in Michigan in recent months in an effort to win the state's 18 electoral votes on Nov. 7.

Most recently, Bush campaigned in the Detroit area on Oct. 5, the same day that Gore stumped in Grand Rapids. Bush was in Pontiac and Saginaw on Sept. 28-29.

"It's an extremely important state," Krause said. "That's why he (Bush) has spent so much time here and is focusing so much on the state."

Bush did not win the state's GOP presidential primary on Feb. 22. That victory went to U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Democrat Bill Clinton won Michigan in 1992 and 1996, while Republican George Bush, George W. Bush's father, won the state in 1988.