Bush rallies GOP for pep talk

President Bush yesterday sought to reassure Republicans on Capitol Hill who are worried about his record-low job approval ratings and the daily drumbeat of negative news from Iraq.

“He was very upbeat and positive about the direction we’re going and asked us to keep the faith,” said Rep. Deborah Pryce, Ohio Republican. “To the last person in there, we’re all behind him.”

Still, Mr. Bush’s first visit to Capitol Hill in a year was aimed at reassuring Republicans who worry that ongoing violence in Iraq will hamper his re-election campaign against Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat.

“We’ve got a president who is pugnacious. This man is unrelenting, stubborn, if you will. But he’s not going to walk away from a situation that’s tough, and that’s why he’s going to win,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican.

“He needs us not to go wobbly on him,” said Sen. Gordon H. Smith, Oregon Republican, on Fox News Channel. “Because we’re winning this war, even though that’s not very much reported.”

By shoring up support among Republican lawmakers, Mr. Bush hoped to avoid the fate of his father, former President George Bush, who lost his bid for re-election in 1992 after his support among Republicans began to erode.

Matthew Dowd, chief strategist of the Bush 2004 re-election campaign, said the younger Mr. Bush is suffering no such erosion of Republican support.

Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, said Mr. Bush was not there to put out any fires among Republicans, because no such fires exist. He said the president just wanted to reassure Republicans he has an agenda they can believe will both succeed and lead to re-election.

“The more he can come up here and remind us how strong he is, what a great leader he is, the better,” Mr. Kyl said.

Apparently, his message worked, as several Republicans emerged from the meeting sounding confident in their party leader.

“The president’s going to win,” said Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican, as he walked by the crowd of reporters waiting for Mr. Bush to emerge.

Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, said Mr. Bush “was interrupted by applause dozens of times. There were several standing ovations.”

When asked about the president’s approval ratings, which are at record lows, Sen. Wayne Allard, Colorado Republican, noted that polls had him losing just days before his own 2002 re-election bid for Senate.

The Democratic National Committee chided the president for failing to invite Democrats to the closed-door meeting.

“The American people would prefer to have a president who can work in a bipartisan fashion with Congress — and come November, they’ll get one,” said DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera.

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