Campaign comes into Vogue

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

President Bush's two daughters made a glamorous entrance into their father's re-election campaign by posing in fashion gowns for Vogue magazine, to which they also gave their first lengthy interview.

"I love my dad, and I think I'd regret it if I didn't do this," Jenna Bush said in the interview published in the August issue of Vogue, explaining her participation in her father's campaign.

"It's not like he called me up and asked me," she said. "They've never wanted to throw us into that world, and I think our decision probably shocked them."

The 22-year-old twins posed in classic ball gowns before French photographer Patrick Demarchelier.

The blond Jenna wears a red dress by Oscar de la Renta, and Barbara is clad in an ivory gown by Calvin Klein.

In recent days, each of the sisters appeared by the side of her father at campaign events in an effort to ensure his re-election. On Tuesday, the brown-haired Barbara accompanied the president to Michigan and Minnesota. Jenna went with Mr. Bush to Pennsylvania on July 9.

So far, their presence has been discreet. They had no speaking engagements and limited themselves to applauding while listening to their father's speeches. The sisters insist they are not interested in politics.

"I'm just not political," Jenna said. "I have opinions, but there's nothing about the process that has ever interested me."

She said she is interested to be part of the campaign.

"I think it will be great to do the campaign for several months where I'll work really hard and meet tons of people," she said. "I think it will help prepare me for the next phase of my life."

Before joining the Bush campaign, Jenna and Barbara spent their vacations with friends in Europe.

Barbara went to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Prague, and Jenna went to Spain.

The twins have graduated from college. Jenna studied literature at the University of Texas and wants to pursue a career in education. Barbara has a liberal arts degree from Yale University and intends to fight AIDS in Africa and Eastern Europe.

However, the first daughters don't want their choice of careers to be used during the election campaign.

"We thought it would be better to wait until after November," Barbara said.

Asked by the magazine, Mr. Bush said that "the thing I'm most excited about is that I get to spend the last campaign of my life with two girls I love."

In the interview, the daughters disclose that they like to drink soy lattes at Starbucks and eat at sushi restaurants.

Jenna said her father has a great sense of humor and is entertaining with their friends.

Barbara is the quiet one while Jenna is the extrovert.

"Jenna is like her father and Barbara is like her mother," Regan Gammon, a family friend, told the magazine. "I think that's apparent to anybody who meets them."

The president's daughters generally have been shielded from the limelight for 31/2 years after the White House asked the press to respect their privacy.

However, they made the papers in 2001 after being caught drinking alcohol when they were younger than 21, the legal drinking age.