Bush To Skip Daughter Graduations

President Bush and his wife do not plan to attend their twin daughters' college graduation ceremonies later this month, the White House said Thursday.

"There are no plans at this time to attend these ceremonies," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for Laura Bush. "The Bushes felt the focus should be on the students, and not how long the lines are to go through the metal detectors."

Jenna Bush is slated to graduate May 22 from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English. Barbara Bush graduates May 24 with a humanities degree from Yale University.

The sisters value their privacy and have sought to live the lives of normal college students.

Laura Bush told CNN in February that her 22-year-old daughters may help with their father's re-election campaign.

"They are terrific girls. They are getting ready to graduate from college, and we'll see when they graduate," she said. "You know, this will be really their first campaign that their dad has run that they are really old enough to be involved."

Johndroe said Thursday that it would be up to the daughters to decide whether to campaign.

The sisters were freshmen when their father was running for president in 2000.

They have stayed out of the media spotlight with some exceptions, such as an underage drinking incident at an Austin bar when they were 19.