President helps Steele take in half a million

Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Mary Ellen Slayter⁄Capital News Service Paul Kelley and his 2-year-old daughter, Hannah, join protesters Wednesday outside the Naval Academy in Annapolis where George W. Bush urged more patience on troop withdrawals from Iraq, outlining a strategy aimed at reducing U.S. forces, but refusing to give the departure timeline demanded by his critics. Later in the day, the president helicoptered to Baltimore to raise almost $500,000 for Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele’s U.S. Senate campaign.

In a speech punctuated by thunderous support from a few hundred GOP faithful, Bush said he needs Steele in the U.S. Senate.

‘‘You see, people in this country want there to be honest government. No matter what party they’re from, they want a decent and honorable man to represent them. And in Michael Steele, you’ve got such a person,” Bush said.

‘‘Michael Steele is a man who loves his family, loves his country and loves his God,” he said.

The event, however, drew sharp attacks from Democrats.

The fund-raising total represents a lowball figure for a presidential visit, and Bush’s conservatism is a contrast to the moderate views Steele is trying to present Maryland voters, said Derek Walker, a Democratic Party spokesman.

‘‘You can’t stand with George Bush and stand for Maryland,” Walker said. ‘‘I think ultimately the costs ... are going to outweigh the financial boost to having George Bush appear at an event.”

Critics pointed out other candidates have hoovered up buckets of money at events attended by the president. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), for example, collected $1.4 million at a Monday fund-raiser in Phoenix. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) raised $1.7 million earlier this year.

There are reasons why the dollar amount seems low, said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

‘‘We might be comparing apples and oranges. Sometimes a fund-raiser is intended to be the biggest event of the season, and they invite everybody and their brother and sister,” Sabato said. ‘‘Some fund-raisers are designed to launch a campaign, and they’re smaller and raise less.”

Maybe Maryland donors are tapped out after being solicited for the Virginia governor’s race. Or maybe it’s because it’s still December, he said.

Even though it might not be fair, Sabato said, the new benchmark for a presidential fund-raiser is $1 million.

Raise that million, and observers do not have to think about whether the candidate has the appeal to win or whether Bush’s poll numbers are scaring off donations, he said.

‘‘That’s the whole point of making sure you raise at least a million, so these questions don’t arise,” Sabato said.

Leonardo Alcivar, the Steele campaign spokesman, discounted criticism that Wednesday’s haul was disappointing.

‘‘That’s wishful thinking on the part of our opponents,” he said. ‘‘It’s just another instance that our opponents are going to use anything they can to suggest this campaign is off base.”

The half million is pretty good money for a stand-up lunch nearly a year from the election, said Matthew A. Crenson, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. And he noted that the president’s speech did not put Steele on the spot on controversial policies.

GOP regulars at the event, at a restaurant inside M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, were not thinking about the money Wednesday.

‘‘It was a wonderful kickoff event for the faithful. This is exactly what we want,” Republican activist Carol Hirschburg said.

The event was designed to bring in those regulars. Tickets went for $125 a pop. Those who donated at least $5,000 could have a picture taken with the president. They were served burgers, hot dogs, pretzels and cole slaw.

Del. Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby said he has been amazed at the excitement he has heard from his constituents 11 months from the election. People have asked him how they can work for the campaign.

‘‘It’s a backlash to the way Mike Steele has been treated. It’s the cheap politics the Democratic Party has tried to use to smear Mike Steele,” he said, ‘‘and it’s backfiring. And I predict that’s why he’ll win this election next year.”

Energized party

Steele is competing for the first open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 20 years, with the retirement of incumbent Paul S. Sarbanes (D). Three other Republicans have filed for the Sept. 12 primary.

Democrats will have to select from a field of seven so far. One Green Party candidate has also filed.

If the Democrats were trying to get their digs in on the cash collected, Wednesday’s attendees seemed unconcerned whether it signaled Bush’s slipping support in the state.

‘‘If you’ve got the president, you raise money,” said Del. Gail H. Bates (R-Dist. 9A) of West Friendship. ‘‘If the president said he wanted to do a fund-raiser for my little delegate district, hey, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

At about 11 a.m., three presidential helicopters landed across from the stadium in Parking Lots B and C, delivering the president after a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Moments later, Steele and Bush appeared before several hundred people huddled near the podium.

Steele addressed the group briefly, saying he supports efforts to reduce addiction, poverty, hunger and neglect.

‘‘We will unite all the people of Maryland behind one simple truth, that working together we can and we will place opportunity in the hands of our people and turn hope into action. The people of Maryland are ready, I think, for a campaign of change,” he said.

Bush, who had just laid out his plans for Iraq in Annapolis, continued his stay-the-course message for the war.

‘‘There’s one thing we need to do: Stay on the offensive; bring these people to justice,” Bush said, interrupted by a booming display of support.

‘‘We have one objective in Iraq, and that is victory,” he said, again interrupted by applause.

Bush described his recent trip to the Far East, and a meeting he had with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in which they considered how to make the Korean peninsula nuclear free.

The president mused that 60 years ago Japan and the United States were sworn enemies, but because Japan adopted its own democracy, two adversaries can now work for peace.

‘‘Someday an American president is going to be sitting down talking to a leader from an Islamic country working on keeping the peace,” Bush said. By rebuilding Iraq, ‘‘we’re laying the foundation for peace for generations.”

Praising Ehrlich, Steele

Bush also praised the economic policies of the Ehrlich-Steele administration, and Steele’s participation in the Governor’s Office for Community Initiatives, an outgrowth of Bush’s own faith-based initiative.

‘‘The faith-based initiative recognizes there’s a limitation in the capabilities of government to cause people to love one another. Governments are about law and justice, that’s what government is. But love comes from a higher calling,” Bush said.

Steele understands, he said, that government can ‘‘unleash the vast potential of America, the great compassion of America.”

Outside the stadium, about 50 protesters collected, organized by Progressive Maryland, a liberal group.

‘‘He says he’s moderate but his record in office has been very conservative. And he wraps his arms around the most conservative president in modern times,” said Sean Dobson, Progressive Maryland’s deputy director.

Steele has used bridge symbolism in his campaign, but his two chief fund-raisers have been headlined by Bush and by Bush adviser Karl Rove.

‘‘That doesn’t like a bridge between the two parties. That sounds as partisan and right-wing as you can possibly be,” Dobson said.

He called on Steele to relate his positions on Bush’s agenda, notably the war in Iraq, privatizing Social Security and his U.S. Supreme Court nominees.