Rice testimony keeps focus on U.S. security

Republicans are pleased that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will testify about September 11 because it keeps the presidential campaign focused on national security — President Bush’s strong suit.

The Republican Party believes Democrats are repeating their blunder of the 2002 elections, when they demanded prolonged discussions about Iraq from Mr. Bush, who obliged and led Republicans to historic victories. Even some Democrats are becoming alarmed by the similarities between the two campaigns.

“They [messed] the 2002 election up and it looks like they’re trying to do the same thing with this one,” Democratic strategist Patrick Caddell said of his fellow party members. “Every time they hammer Bush on national security, they just help him because it puts the election on his ground.

“Americans have great confidence in George Bush’s ability to protect them,” he added. “When it comes to this subject, they’re overwhelmingly for Bush. So if the Democrats want to have a campaign on this issue, they’re insane.”

Republican strategist Ed Rogers agreed.

“It may be written in the 2004 campaign books that the last few days have been a strategy to drive up our ratings,” he said with a chuckle. “Republicans are trusted more than Democrats to manage national security issues — period.

“Democrats should be careful what they wish for,” he added. “I would suspect that Condi Rice has a ‘Q factor’ and a trust factor that’s higher than John Kerry’s.”

Even though Democrats won their demand that Miss Rice publicly testify before a commission investigating the terrorist attacks, they could be hurt in the long run.

“A lot of Republicans are secretly thrilled that Condi Rice is going to go to Capitol Hill,” said conservative political analyst Tony Snow on Fox News Channel. “They think as long as the war on terror is front and center in the political scene — whether it be due to Richard Clarke or Condoleezza Rice or anybody else — they think that helps.”

Many Democrats and journalists were surprised when the president’s poll numbers did not drop in the wake of recent accusations by Mr. Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism adviser, that Mr. Bush should have been better prepared for September 11.

The latest Gallup poll put the president’s approval rating at 53 percent, up four points from a month ago. And in four recent polls, Mr. Bush scored at least 20 points higher than Mr. Kerry when Americans were asked who would do a better job of protecting the country from terrorism.

Kerry campaign spokeswoman Kathy Roeder pointed out that while the Massachusetts Democrat supports the September 11 commission, he had no control over the timing of its hearings.

“This isn’t really of our making,” she said. “There are some things that you can’t control and should be beyond the scope of a presidential campaign.”

Miss Roeder questioned whether the focus on national security will rebound to the benefit of Republicans.

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