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ALISA ULFERTSThe president's twin daughters tour Florida with a message that he respects women's rights and abilities.
TALLAHASSEE - President Bush's twin daughters hopscotched around Florida on Monday, thanking campaign volunteers and trying to sway the undecided to vote for their dad.
Barbara and Jenna Bush, 22, met with supporters in Miami and West Palm Beach before heading to Tallahassee to speak at a "W Stands for Women" rally.
With women making up a disproportionate share of undecided voters in an extremely tight race, the last event was intended to remind voters that more than a few women hold high-ranking positions in the Bush administration.
"What it shows is that our dad is committed to putting the very best women and men in the top positions," said Barbara Bush.
Beyond highlighting high-profile hires, the twins stuck to familiar themes of family and friends, recalling for the audience childhood memories of sleepovers, dates and growing up in America's premier political family.
"He may have been governor or president, but in our house and to our friends he was just our dad," Jenna Bush said of President Bush. "He made everyone feel comfortable, except for the occasional boyfriend."
And they pointed to their mother, first lady Laura Bush, as Exhibit A in their case that their father respects women.
"We do know what an incredible role model she is for us," Barbara Bush said. "It's a little bit like having a rock star for a mother, except she's in bed by 9:30."
The presidential daughters were introduced by their aunt, Florida first lady Columba Bush, as "my beautiful nieces and America's sweethearts."
They were preceded in the hourlong rally by Columba Bush, Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, Florida Republican Party chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan and Rhonda Medows, former secretary of the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
Those women divided their time between lauding Bush's support of women in America and Afghanistan and his understanding of the issues, particularly family, that resonate with many women.
"As a woman and a Hispanic, I take great pride in my family," Columba Bush said. "He (Bush) has made some of the most difficult decisions in the most difficult times, and I know he has done it with his children in mind."
They also painted Bush's Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry as unfriendly to families - and by extension to women - because of his abortion rights views and failure to vote for certain tax breaks such as repealing the so-called death tax and marriage penalty tax.