Bush resigned to Democratic control of the House
Resigned to Democratic control of the House, US President George Bush struck a businesslike tone and made plans to call the woman poised to become speaker of a Democratic House majority.
“The president’s not the kind of guy who is going to be sombre about things,” said press secretary Tony Snow. But he added: “They have not gone the way he would have liked.”
Bush, unaccustomed to political defeat, planned a morning phone call to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and made plans to give his take on the midterm US election results at an afternoon news conference.
The president watched the results in the White House residence, where Snow described the mood as “businesslike”.
Asked if the president was surprised the House was shifting to the Democrats, Snow said it wasn’t “a slap-on-the-forehead kind of shock”.
During the campaign, Bush raise millions of dollars, flew thousands of miles, shook hands, kissed babies, praised fellow Republicans and blasted Democrats - in private at first, lately before cheering crowds.
From huge hotel ballrooms in Washington to luxury homes across the country, Bush collected more than $193m (€151.1m) for the Republican party at about 90 fundraisers over 20 months. Switching to traditional campaign rallies only at the last, he raced through 15 cities in 11 days.
The president then returned to the White House to await the results so pivotal to the last two years of his presidency.
A Capitol Hill even half dominated by Democrats would erect a bedevilling barrier to the remaining items on his presidential agenda. It would also raise the spectre of possible investigations into his pre-Iraq war use of intelligence, post-September 11 expansion of executive power and other issues.
From a famous family of politicians, Bush first entered the electoral fray on his own behalf in 1978 when he ran, and lost, for Congress from West Texas.
He has not lost since, not for governor of Texas in 1994 and again in 1998, not in two runs for the White House, and not in 2002, when – with his help – his party bucked historical trends and not only kept but expanded its majorities in the House and the Senate.
For this year’s mid-term elections, Bush headlined at least as many political events as before the voting in 2002. But the nature of his effort was much different.
With the war growing unpopular and his approval ratings 25 points lower than four years ago, Bush kept his political appearances more out of the public eye.
When the public rallies did start, two months later than in the 2002 election cycle, they were exclusively in Republican-friendl states he won in 2004, most in small or rural communities less likely to have a boisterous anti-Bush presence.
He did not stay away from contested races. But by jetting into the reddest of states, such as Nebraska, Kansas and Montana, the president was playing defense. His assignment was not to lure undecideds, but to coax a dispirited Republican base to turn out.
White House political strategists said the president helped.
But some in Bush’s party made a point of distancing themselves from his policies, even while they eagerly accepted his behind-closed-doors fundraising help. Others said “No, thank you” to any presidential involvement.
