Bush talks up economy on ninth trip to Wisconsin
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dueling with Democratic rival John Kerry over the economy, President Bush is promoting lower taxes and free-trade policies in a state that has lost 80,000 manufacturing jobs since he took office.
Bush’s trip to Appleton, Wis., on Tuesday was billed as an official visit but carried political overtones. Bush lost the state by fewer than 6,000 votes in 2000 and it is regarded as a battleground again this year.
Kerry holds a 46 percent to 43 percent lead over Bush in the state, according to a poll released Friday by the American Research Group. Independent candidate Ralph Nader was at 4 percent, with 7 percent undecided.
The economic debate goes to the heart of the presidential campaign.
“This administration has one economic policy for America — 3 million jobs lost and driving gas prices towards $3 a gallon,” Kerry said Monday at a jobs training center in Sacramento, Calif. Vice President Dick Cheney shot back that Kerry was “one of the most reliable pro-tax votes in the Senate.”
The trip was Bush’s ninth to Wisconsin, where economic anxieties run high. The president had only one appearance, a speech at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, and was to be in Wisconsin a total of 90 minutes from landing to takeoff.
While Wisconsin’s manufacturing job losses have been heavy, the administration points to an improved unemployment rate in the state — down to 5.2 percent in February from 5.8 percent a year earlier.
Bush’s message was that America must resist “isolationist policies that would close America off to new markets because we need to open markets and create jobs at home,” White House deputy press secretary Claire Buchan said.
“Instead of increasing the tax burden on entrepreneurs and families we need to insure that we work to keep that tax burden low and that we need to make sure that our workers have the training and education to take advantage of the new opportunities of the future.”
To buttress Bush’s case, the White House said Wisconsin exported $11.5 billion worth of goods last year, and that tax cuts enacted during Bush’s administration have saved money for 2 million taxpayers in the state.