Monday March 5 1:16 AM ET
Bush To Plug Budget Plans
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - They're not America's glamour spots, and that's the point: President Bush is returning to the nation's heartland this week to promote his spending and tax-cut proposals.
Bush was focusing on his Medicare plan in Washington on Monday and watching the swearing-in of disaster-management chief Joe Allbaugh. Then he was returning to his 2001 campaign trail - a zigzagging path that took him to five states last week, and will hit four this week.
The president has shunned places like New York and Hollywood, gravitating instead to the Midwest and South - regions that generally supported him on Election Day. This week follows the pattern, as he heads to Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota and Louisiana. He plans to spend next weekend at his Texas ranch.
Rather than visit Wall Street, Bush will go Tuesday to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where international currencies, stock indexes and beef and pork futures are traded.
It offers a window on the nation's economy: In 2000, some 231 million contracts worth more than $155 trillion changed hands at the exchange.
``The president continues to take his message to the American people, outlining his budget and tax cut plans, and the mercantile exchange is a good venue to talk about economic growth,'' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
On Thursday, Bush flies to the Dakotas, which he carried easily last year with more than 60 percent of the vote, and which both have two Democratic senators.
In Fargo, N.D., he'll talk taxes, and in Sioux Falls, S.D., he'll visit a health care institution. Bush's budget calls for increases in medical research funding, something he highlighted in Atlanta last week.
The president stops in Lafayette, La., on Friday before heading to his ranch. The following Monday, he flies to Florida for his first official visit to the state where a disputed election stalled his claim on the White House. He vacationed there in December as president-elect.
Support for Bush's plan has split largely along party lines, and Bush's broader mission is to build congressional support. He traveled last week with lawmakers representing the states he visited, heaping praise on them and calling on his audiences to pressure doubters.
Bush will repeat that tactic this week.
The president is also tending to his role as world leader.
On Wednesday, he plays host to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his reconciliation efforts with North Korea.
The next day, he'll meet with NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson. Certain to be on the agenda is the alliance's peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, where more than 9,000 U.S. troops are on patrol in Bosnia and Kosovo.
``The president's agenda on foreign policy this week is to re-emphasize alliances,'' said Mary Ellen Countryman, spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
