Coming To The Aid Of Their Party

The White House drive for control of Congress sent both the president and Vice President Dick Cheney on Midwest fund-raising swings Monday.

Cheney headlined a fund-raiser in Illinois and Mr. Bush came to Iowa, where he marked the tax-filing deadline with a renewed call for permanent income tax cuts.

On a trip aimed at ousting Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, Mr. Bush also lavished praise on ethanol, a fuel additive dear to this corn-producing state. And he branded objections to his plan to drill for new oil in Alaska as "propaganda."

Mr. Bush said he was convinced that new technologies in oil exploration would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge "without leaving a footprint that will affect the environment in a negative, harmful way."

"Oh, I've heard the propaganda," Mr. Bush said on a fund-raising trip here.

But, he said, Saddam Hussein's oil embargo underscored the need for more domestic oil production, and for conservation.

"It's going to take more than just conservation — we need to focus on renewable sources of energy, starting with ethanol, produced right here from corn in Iowa," he said.

In the weeks following Sept. 11, Mr. Bush and Cheney stayed separate to ensure the continuity of government in the event of another terrorist attack. That rule has eased, but with fund raising increasingly shaping their travels, the president and vice president often find themselves thousands of miles apart anyway.

For his 16th fund-raiser of the year, Mr. Bush helped collect campaign dollars for Rep. Greg Ganske, who is running for the GOP nomination to challenge Democrat Harkin in November. With Iowa's primary in June, it was the latest example of the White House involving itself in a campaign long before Republican voters select a nominee. Ganske faces a primary challenge from conservative activist Bill Salier.

Mr. Bush's political operatives have sent word they aren't happy with Ganske's early campaign efforts, arguing Harkin is vulnerable and Ganske hasn't moved aggressively enough to confront him. Nevertheless, Bush's appearance was to bring in $500,000, almost all of it for Ganske, White House and campaign officials said.

Iowa is a key state politically because it is home of the nation's first presidential contest, the Iowa caucuses. In the 2000 presidential contest, Mr. Bush was narrowly defeated in Iowa by Democrat Al Gore.

By talking about taxes, the White House was able to split the cost of the trip between taxpayers and the Republican Party.

Cheney flew to Collinsville, Ill., to raise funds for Rep. John Shimkus, who is one of a handful of incumbent House Republicans who face incumbent Democrats because of redistricting. Democratic Rep. David Phelps is running against Shimkus.

Mr. Bush wants to recapture the Democrat-controlled Senate, where many of his initiatives have bogged down, and retain control of the House, which the GOP narrowly holds. He and Cheney have been traveling heavily to help finance Republican candidates.

In his State of the Union address, the president called for legislation making permanent his 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut, enacted last year. The entire tax cut is set to expire at the end of 2010 because of a Senate budget rule.

On Monday, the deadline for federal income tax filing, Mr. Bush was reiterating that plea as the House prepares to take up a bill that would make the cut permanent.

"Tax relief is absolutely right for America, and I believe one of the reasons we're seeing encouraging signs in the economy is because of tax relief. But we need to do more," he said.

It's unlikely Congress will heed Mr. Bush's call, because of Senate Democratic leaders who say the cuts have darkened the nation's long-term budget picture.

The Democrats blame the president's tax cuts for contributing to the resurgence of deficits and siphoning money from domestic programs such as education and Medicare.

Making the tax cut permanent would cost $627 billion over the next decade, congressional budget analysts estimated earlier this year.

Mr. Bush's push for permanent tax cuts came at a time when government spending is growing. Spending on government programs will increase 22 percent from 1999 to 2003 in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to an analysis by The Washington Post published Monday.