State: Bush visit marks return of favor

ST. PETERSBURG -- President Bush arrives in Pinellas County today to talk about the economy and help a younger brother whose political fate is interlocked with his own.

Gov. Jeb Bush, who in November 2000 apologized to George W. Bush when it appeared Florida had cost him the White House, is leaning on the president to help him win a second term. President Bush, meanwhile, needs his brother in order to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election debacle.

"This was the state that basically gave him the presidency, but also almost didn't give him the presidency," said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. "He needs to come down here frequently to boost his chances for re-election ... and he needs to boost his brother's chances for re-election."

The president's visit is his eighth to Florida since taking office. Except for states in the Washington area, President Bush has visited only Pennsylvania more than Florida. Not even his home state of Texas has enjoyed more presidential visits.

That's what happens when the president's brother leads the nation's biggest battleground state. Jeb Bush losing would be widely seen as a signal of the president's vulnerability in Florida in 2004.

"It is difficult to see how a Republican these days can win the presidency without winning Florida," said William Claggett, a Florida State University political scientist.

This morning, the Bush brothers will be side by side at a computer parts distributor in the Gateway area of north St. Petersburg. Then they head to the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa on St. Pete Beach for a $25,000-a-plate luncheon for the state GOP.

Floridians gave at least $5.7-million to Bush's presidential campaign, more than people everywhere but Texas and California, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Now, President Bush is returning the favor.

His first fundraiser after Sept. 11 also was for Gov. Bush and the Florida GOP, which pays most of the governor's campaign expenses.

Whether they like it or not, the Bushes inevitably attract comparisons. And when they appear together they bring into focus a political soap opera: two brothers, once rivals (Jeb was once considered most likely to be president), avenging their father's loss of the White House to Bill Clinton.

First, they knocked off Clinton's vice president after a bitter recount in the state Jeb Bush presides over. Now, they're working together to hold off a challenge by Clinton's former attorney general, Janet Reno.

The Clinton angle runs deep: Former Clinton aides are raising money for Reno, and earlier this week, first lady turned U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted a Washington fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party.

That's not the theme of the president's visit today. Instead, it's the economy and corporate citizenship.

The president will tour America II Electronics, a privately owned distributor of semiconductors. The company is expanding, and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker suggested it to the White House as an example of the economic rebound.

Both events are closed to the public.

The governor once frowned on comparisons with his brother. In speeches these days, however, he frequently mentions the president and how proud he is of him.

When together, the Bush brothers usually blend effusive praise for one another with good-natured ribbing. The president last year displayed a picture of Jeb as a naked toddler, and the governor soon after came up with a similar picture of a young George.

Florida Democrats once banked on anger over the 2000 election to energize voters against Gov. Bush in 2002. But with President Bush enjoying stratospheric approval ratings since Sept. 11, the recount is no longer the issue it once promised to be.

The president's popularity clearly helps his younger brother. How much is unclear. Polls show Gov. Bush popular in Florida, though not nearly as popular as the wartime president.

In California this week, the Republican gubernatorial candidate recruited and backed by the White House, Richard Riordan, overwhelmingly lost his Republican primary. Likewise, the president's popularity didn't stop Virginia and New Jersey from electing Democratic governors in November.

"Voters are very discerning, and they distinguish between the two men," said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe.

As the Bush motorcade zips through Pinellas, Janet Reno will be struggling for attention in the Tampa Bay area, Florida's biggest media market.

Her red pickup truck tour stops in Tampa today to visit a Healthy Start program. She also plans to meet with Police Benevolent Association members in Seffner and attend private fundraisers tonight.

"We knew all along that the governor would have all the support he wanted from the White House," Reno campaign manager Mo Elleithee said. "It looks to me like the governor's starting to feel the heat a little bit. He sees all the traction we're getting, and he wanted to call in the big guns."

Bush campaign spokesman Todd Harris dismissed the link between Reno and the president's visit. "The exhaust from her red truck must be clouding their senses," he said.

This is the president's first visit to Pinellas County, which he narrowly lost to Gore while narrowly winning Hillsborough County. Since taking office, he has hit most every part of the state except the South Florida Democratic strongholds that were at the center of the contested 2000 election.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk