Bush Tries to Focus on Ailing Economy

June 19, 2003
By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush chose a state he narrowly lost in 2000 to deliver a third speech this week devoted to the politically crucial issue of what his administration is doing to boost the lagging economy.

On Tuesday in Annandale, Va., Bush talked about his administration's worker-training efforts. On Monday in Elizabeth, N.J., he promoted the huge tax cuts he signed into law last month, particularly those meant to spur small businesses to invest in new equipment.

Democrats seeking to bump Bush from the White House hope he will be vulnerable on the economy during next year's presidential race. Bush's stepped-up focus on the nation's economic woes comes as he begins raising money for his bid for a second White House term.

Those small-business cuts were also the main topic of Bush's visit Thursday to a high-tech company in Fridley, Minn.

Bush was not expected to propose any new tonic for the economy, instead focusing on the incentives the White House says the new cuts give small businesses to expand and, thus, hire workers.

After a tour of the Micro Control Co., which builds testing equipment for semiconductors, Bush was to tout the law's provisions allowing small businesses to immediately write off $100,000 in new equipment purchases and all businesses to write off half their investments this year.

Economists say that reluctance to spend money on big-ticket items such as machinery and computers has held back the economic recovery.

"The president has received information from private economists, from government economists that suggests that we are starting to see more good signs on the economy," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday. "However, the economy still remains mixed."

As has been typical for Bush travels, the president of the company he is visiting is a frequent contributor to Republican campaigns. Harold Hamilton also pushed for lower taxes at the state level in Minnesota.

Bush's Minnesota trip, his sixth, coincides with the first day of the annual summer meeting of Democratic National Committee executives and the chairmen of each state's Democratic Party organization. The Democratic presidential hopefuls also were attending the event in St. Paul.

Minnesota, traditionally one of the most Democratic states in the nation, yielded a close race in 2002. Several polls showed the state a tossup in the campaign's closing weeks, and former Vice President Al Gore beat Bush there by 57,000 votes.

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