A reporter who has been around the president all day today e-mailed:
I saw your post in the corner yesterday about Bush spending lots of time in Crawford this weekend. I see that you’ve since noticed him stumping Florida today. I’ve been with him…all day and am now awaiting him to arrive in Jacksonville where 40,000 or more people will fill Alltel Stadium (where the Jags play) for a rally. He helicoptered in to his first event in Ft. Myers, landing in centerfield of the Red Sox (ha!) Single-A affiliate to the screams of the crowd of 12,000 Even cynical members of the press corps were impressed.
He will finish the day completing four rallies in Republican-friendly areas of Florida, giving his speech to perhaps more than 70,000 people all told. This is undoubtely an impressive get-the-base-fired-up stretch by any definition or sense of history. And while he overnights in Crawford tonight, we’re out on Sunday afternoon for a rally in New Mexico. He originally had no public events scheduled for Sunday (he traditionally likes to rest on the Sabbath), but the NM event was added early this week. I think he learned his lesson in 2000: Run hard all the way through the tape.
Monday it’s another hectic day, with one rally in Colorado and two in Iowa. Then it’s on to a four-city bus tour through the heart of rural Wisconsin on Tuesday. Wednesday is one stop in Pennsylvania, two in Ohio and one in Michigan (obviously Corner speculation that Michigan might be winnable is shared by Rove). He’s wearing out the press corps, but his energy seems endless. And he’s using it.