Bush faces fall frenzy of policy, campaigning

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CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush, rested and ready after nearly a month at his ranch, returns to work at the White House today with high support from Americans for the war in Iraq, a reviving national economy and a burgeoning bank account for his 2004 re-election campaign.

A heavy workload awaits Mr. Bush. Congress will take up his Medicare proposal and energy package, as well as an expected request for billions of dollars to establish stability and security in Iraq. The president will be juggling these issues while campaigning for re-election.

"The challenge is enormous," said Kenneth Weinstein, vice president of the Hudson Institute, a policy think tank. "Between the situation in Iraq, the situation in the Middle East, the budget, it's certainly overwhelming."

Also awaiting Mr. Bush is an energized Democratic Party eager to spotlight the high unemployment rate, the rising costs of keeping troops in Iraq and an uncertain Medicare prescription drug bill in Congress. Congressional Democrats also are expected to push for increasing the minimum wage and government payments to low-income families with children.

Mr. Bush also faces criticism from former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democratic presidential hopeful. Mr. Dean has maintained a position as his party's top fund-raiser by nabbing more than $1 million from a three-day, 10-city tour that included the president's home state of Texas.

Mr. Bush also is preparing for two overseas trips later this year -- one to Thailand, the Philippines and likely Australia, and the other to England, which is expected to include talks on Iraq with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

His travel schedule at home will be frenetic. With presidential primaries and caucuses four months away and a general election a little more than a year from now, the president will be raising money for his campaign and bolstering the profiles of lawmakers to help keep Republicans in control of the House and Senate.

"He will have a very active schedule when he gets back," said Suzy DeFrancis, deputy director of the White House communications office. One of the president's primary objectives, she said, is to take his message of economic and homeland security directly to Americans.

The president, she said, believes his message is being filtered and distorted by mainstream news outlets.