Bush visits Baltimore to raise cash, speak on economy at Home Depot
BALTIMORE (AP) — President Bush mingled with campaign donors during a wet, wintery storm here, raising another $1 million for his re-election before heading to a Home Depot nearby where he highlighted a rebounding U.S. economy.
Sitting on a stage in front of stacks of plywood and paint, Bush noted that November's jobless rate, announced on Friday, slipped to 5.9% — its lowest level in eight months — as employers added new jobs for the fourth month in a row.
"Today, the unemployment rate dropped," Bush told local small business owners and employees at the Home Depot store in Halethorpe, Md., many of them in orange work aprons. "More workers are going to work. ... We've overcome a lot. We're a strong country." (Related video: Bush tells workers, "Economy is strong")
He said most new jobs in America are created by small businesses.
"We're happy to have the Home Depot jobs, don't get me wrong," Bush said. "But the truth is most new jobs are started by the entrepreneurs."
Job growth, however, continues to lag behind other economic indicators. While the jobless rate improved, U.S. companies added only 57,000 new jobs last month, short of the 150,000 that economists had predicted.
Home Depot has several ties to the Bush administration. Home Depot employees and the company political action committee have contributed $31,000 to the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, according to a check of donations by the Center of Responsive Politics.
Robert Nardelli, chief executive officer of Home Depot, who has visited the White House on several occasions, is one of 18 corporate America heavyweights who are part of the "Businesses Strengthening America" initiative, which encourages businesses to give employees time off for volunteer work and sponsor corporate volunteer projects.
And Francis Blake joined Home Depot as executive vice president of business development and corporate operations last year after leaving his position as deputy secretary for the Energy Department.
Bush initially was to fly to Baltimore aboard the Marine One helicopter, but rain and snow forced him to make the nearly hour-long trip in his presidential motorcade.
He was greeted at the fund-raiser by about 550 people who were served hot roast beef sandwiches, cream of crab soup, three kinds of mashed potatoes and sweets at a hotel ballroom in downtown Baltimore. The words "Bush-Cheney '04" were carved in an ice sculpture in the lobby.
Bush, whose campaign bank account already tops $111 million, has one more fund-raiser this year, an event Dec. 11 in McLean, Va. Vice President Dick Cheney has one more as well, Dec. 12 in Jackson, Miss.
Doro Bush Koch, the president's sister who lives in suburban Maryland, spoke to the crowd before the president arrived on stage. "I'm what they call filler," she joked.
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