With no primary challenger, Bush can court mainstream

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The absence of Republican primary challengers is allowing President Bush to campaign for centrist swing voters with a freedom that he lacked in 2000, when he ran to the right of rival Sen. John McCain.

"We haven't been forced to make a choice between activating our base and appealing to mainstream voters," said Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt.

By seizing the center of the political spectrum with initiatives such as government-subsidized prescription drugs for Medicare recipients, Mr. Bush also is taking advantage of the Democrats' lurch to the left in their protracted primary battle.

Influenced by front-runner Howard Dean, most Democratic contenders are antiwar and pro-tax.

But the president also risks alienating purist conservatives who oppose government expansion. Such voters reserve the right to stay home on Election Day if they feel Mr. Bush is taking them for granted, said lawyer Michael Peroutka, who is running for president on the Constitution Party ticket.

"I don't think he's conservative enough," Mr. Peroutka said of the president. "He spent more in three years than [President] Clinton spent in eight. I don't know how you defend that.

"The Medicare program is a huge waste and a huge failure ... by the way, I used to work for them," he added. "This idea that we have to do everything centrally -- continuously centralizing programs and centralizing power -- has never helped America. And my point is that it never will."

Nonetheless, many of the president's signature issues -- including his opposition to high taxes -- appeal to both conservatives and centrists.

"Look at some of the things that he's chosen to make a priority in his administration -- the tax cuts would be a perfect example -- I mean, those are policies that appeal to a broad cross section of mainstream America," said Christine Iverson, press secretary for the Republican National Committee.