Films, candy and face time: Welcome
aboard Air Force
"The plane is also used with an eye toward 2004, as
Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, makes sure
it is dramatically parked on the runways of key
electoral prizes."
Elisabeth Bumiller The New York Times
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
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WASHINGTON Before President George W. Bush
boards Air Force One, his staff makes sure that the
jumbo jet's televisions are tuned to ESPN or anything
other than the relentless bleat of cable news.
Otherwise, Bush might spot an offending CNN or Fox
news crawl and demand, as he has in the past, "Who
turned that on?"
Sometimes the staff will have a videotape of a Texas
Rangers game for Bush, but at other times he'll
unwind by watching one of the war movies he has
relished since Sept. 11, 2001. On every flight there
are always baskets of candy bars, fresh fruit and a
sense of sanctuary.
These days, Bush's flying cocoon also includes
clutches of congressional candidates in the VIP
section in the aft of the plane. Many of these
passengers are in feverish anticipation of the
political splash that they will make on the tarmac
back home.
Former Representative Matt Salmon, the Republican
candidate for governor of Arizona, went so far as to
drive two and a half hours from Phoenix to Flagstaff,
Arizona, not long ago just so he could return
immediately to his starting point aboard Air Force
One. The drive was a small price, Salmon explained,
for the television pictures of himself with Bush,
emerging from the plane. "I would have crawled on
broken glass," Salmon said. In the second Bush
White House, Air Force One has become both a
crucial presidential retreat and a potent political
tool. Every president since John Kennedy has had a
love affair with his aircraft's luxuries and ability to
attract votes, but under Bush the lure has
increased. The increase dates to Sept. 11, 2001,
when Air Force One became the fortress-jet,
carrying the president on a secret zigzag odyssey
across the United States. If the flight projected an
image that day of a commander-in-chief in retreat, it
also fed the legend of one of the great icons of the
American presidency.
Bush's use of his Boeing 747s (he has two) offers a
revealing glimpse into his personality, and into the
midterm election tactics of the White House.
Last week, with the president in a bomber jacket
embroidered with his name, Air Force One ferried
Mark Sanford and Lindsay Graham, the Republican
candidates for governor and Senate in South
Carolina, to an airport rally in Columbia, South
Carolina, then hauled Alabama's Republican
gubernatorial candidate, Bob Riley, to an election
appearance with Bush in Auburn, Alabama. Bush
gave face time to each of them aloft, but also
retreated to his office, which is decorated like an
expensive hotel suite, with thick carpeting, for work
and privacy. On Monday, while en route to another
campaign rally, in Denver, Bush made
congratulatory phone calls from the office to Emmitt
Smith of the Dallas Cowboys for breaking the
National Football League's rushing record, and to
Jackie Autry, the widow of the founder of the
Anaheim Angels, for the team's World Series
baseball victory.
For midterm candidates who have never before run
for office, a ride on the plane goes a long way toward
eliminating what political consultants call the
"stature gap." It showcases access to the inner
court. "When you drop into your speech, 'I flew back
with President Bush on Air Force One, and he said
to me, - ' everything else you say after that is 3000
percent more important," said Bill McInturff, a
Republican pollster. Bob Beauprez, a first-time
Republican congressional candidate in Colorado, was
so eager to be seen landing in his suburban Denver
district on Air Force One that he flew from Denver to
Waco, Texas, stayed in a hotel overnight, then joined
the presidential party the next morning for the
return trip. By lunchtime, back in Denver, Beauprez
had been seen on local television walking down the
plane's stairs.
"It was a pretty powerful political opportunity,"
grumbled Beauprez' Democratic opponent, Mike
Feeley, who noted that Beauprez never seemed to
stop talking about his 45 minutes of glory at high
altitude.
The plane is also used with an eye toward 2004, as
Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, makes sure
it is dramatically parked on the runways of key
electoral prizes.
"Believe me, Karl is not putting Air Force One in a
whole lot of solidly Republican or Democratic states,"
said Paul Begala, a former political aide to President
Bill Clinton. "He's putting it in swing states."
Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to fly,
going to Casablanca, Morocco, in 1943 to meet
Winston Churchill. Under Dwight Eisenhower, the
presidential plane, then called Columbine II, first got
the call sign "Air Force One," now used for any
aircraft carrying the president. (Bush flies on
smaller planes, which are automatically designated
Air Force One, when he has to land at smaller
airports; the Air Force One carrying Richard Nixon
back to California in August 1974 changed its call
sign to SAM 27000, the plane's regular designation,
above Missouri, just as Gerald Ford finished the oath
of office.)
Kennedy is considered the pioneer of the political
use of Air Force One, instantly recognizing the
magic the presidential plane would have in the jet
age. His wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, commissioned
Raymond Loewy, the industrial designer who
created the Coca-Cola bottle, to decorate the plane.
He came up with a lapis and powder blue color
scheme. Aides say that Bush looks forward to the
privacy of the plane, and while he chats up the staff,
he needs more time alone than did Clinton, who
would prowl the aisles in the middle of the night
looking for someone awake to talk to.
"That's one thing that presidents value on Air Force
One: time to themselves," said Ken Walsh, a veteran
White House correspondent for U.S. New World
Report, who has just written a book, "Air Force One:
A History of the Presidents and Their Planes," to be
published next spring. "They can rarely get it in the
White House. They find this refuge just invaluable."
Aides rarely venture into Bush's cabin, a private
suite in the nose of the jet with a shower and two
day beds, where Bush sleeps, changes clothes and
spends time with his wife.
Bush reads briefing papers and upcoming speeches
in there, often accompanied by Rove or Andrew Card
Jr., the chief of staff. Other top advisers are in four
seats for the senior staff a little farther back in the
plane. Behind them is seating for less senior staff.
Farther back are the VIP guests, then the Secret
Service, then the press in the very rear of the plane.
On long trips, Bush carefully follows
recommendations from White House doctors on
when to exercise, when to nap and when to stay
awake, all in an attempt to beat back jet lag. On
those trips, he runs on a treadmill brought into the
plane's conference room. Unlike his father, who
once went to sleep on the plane in the evening while
it was still parked on the tarmac at Andrews Air
Force Base and then stayed asleep while it took off
in the small hours of the morning for a trip abroad,
Bush likes to leave for foreign capitals in the
evening if it means he can arrive in the evening.
Staff members say that allows him a night's sleep in
a real bed before his official duties start the next
day.
Bush's ride begins quickly because the plane begins
barreling down the runway almost the moment the
president steps aboard, then climbs quickly to
whatever altitude the pilots desire. Air Force One
takes precedence over all other planes in the sky,
except for those in distress, meaning that it never
wastes time circling airports.
"If it's Air Force One, they get whatever they ask
for," said Ruth Marlin, executive vice president of
the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. A
supervisor always monitors the controller guiding Air
Force One, so there are two sets of eyes on the
plane.
The food on Air Force One, prepared by Air Force
stewards, will never win any culinary or dietary
awards, although Bush seems to like it. Last June,
on a day when Bush was in Florida promoting
fitness, the official Air Force One lunch, printed on
gold-edged menu cards for every passenger,
consisted of a corned beef sandwich, fries and
strawberry cheesecake. Bush ordered from the
menu that day, opting for an egg salad sandwich on
toast - one of the president's favorite foods.
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