Bush/McCain

You know it's bad when you can't even muster a successful fundraiser in your own backyard (from Phoenix Biz Journal):

A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.

Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.

Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event.

Bush's Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private residences in the Phoenix area. A White House official said the event was being moved because the McCain campaign prefers private fundraisers and it is Bush administration policy to have events in public venues open to the media. The White House official said to reconcile that the Tuesday event will be held at a private venue and not the Convention Center.

Convention Center personnel confirmed the event has been canceled at their venue.

Tickets to the event were to range from $1,000 to $25,000 for VIP treatment. Money was to go toward McCain's presidential bid and a number of Republican Party organs.

Anti-war protesters were planning to be out in force. President Bush's job approval rating stands at 31 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.com.

The McCain campaign referred questions on the fundraiser change to the White House press office.

I had planned on going to the protest, but they've taken all the fun out of it by cancelling. They thought that it might not look good on the evening news to have their patrons outnumbered by protesters.

There are no guarantees that McCain will even win his home state in November. In a historically conservative state, his wishy-washy bonafides on the right will keep many Republicans home on election day. And Dems will turn out in record numbers to assure that we don't have 4 more years of Bush policies.

"The bedfellows politics made are never strange. It only seems that way to those who have not watched the courtship." -- Marcel Achard (French Playwright, 1899-1974)