In 4 hours, Bush packs a punch

08/23/2006

The president pumped more than $500,000 into the campaign coffers of Republican Michele Bachmann. He also signed an executive order on healthcare.

Eric Black, Patricia Lopez and Glenn Howatt
Star Tribune Staff Writers
Last update: August 22, 2006 – 11:51 PM

In a four-hour, two-event stop in Minnesota on Tuesday, President Bush raised more than $500,000 for the congressional campaign of Michele Bachmann and promoted the major health care ideas of his administration at a forum in Minnetonka.

At the forum, attended by 300 people, Bush signed an executive order to advance efforts aimed at giving patients more information about health care costs and quality so they can make better decisions.

The Bachmann fundraiser, at the Lake Minnetonka home of Jim and Joann Jundt of Wayzata, was closed to media and the public. Those attending paid at least $1,000 to the Bachmann campaign.

Bush arrived in the Twin Cities on Air Force One shortly before 2 p.m. Near the forum, anti-Bush protesters on the sidewalk waved signs, calling for single-payer health insurance and for Bush’s impeachment.

Later, another group of protesters on four boats floated in Brown’s Bay, offshore from the fundraiser, holding peace signs and “dump Bachmann” signs. Supporters floated nearby.

Bush came and went without encountering any protesters, taking any questions from the media, nor from the invitation-only audience at the Minnetonka event.

Bachmann’s DFL opponent, child safety advocate Patty Wetterling, tried to counter the day’s events by calling a morning news conference where she declared universal health care one of her top priorities.

Bachmann, Wetterling and John Binkowski of the Independence Party are vying for the seat from the north metro Sixth District. The seat, which is open because the incumbent, Republican Mark Kennedy, is running for the Senate, is Minnesota’s hottest U.S. House race.

Before the fundraiser, Bachmann said the advance pledges showed she would raise “in excess of half a million dollars” from the event, which is a lot more than she raised from all sources in April, May and June, the latest quarter for campaign finance reports.

Kennedy answered those who argue that he has spent the campaign year running away from Bush by attending both of Bush’s Minnesota events and riding in the motorcade in between. Bush and Kennedy shook hands at the Minnetonka forum and Bush acknowledged Kennedy briefly to the audience.

A running theme of the coverage of the race between Kennedy and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar has been that Kennedy is trying to overcome his image as a Bush Republican.

But it may be paradoxical that Bush did a fundraiser for Bachmann, but not for Kennedy.

Comparing their stances

Bachmann opposed several of Bush’s most notable legislative accomplishments, such as the No Child Left Behind education law (Bachmann sees it as a federal intrusion into local school matters) and the drug benefit for Medicare patients (Bachmann says Medicare can’t afford it).

She also differs from Bush on some aspects of his plan on immigration (she agrees on border security, but not on a guest worker program or a plan to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens) and has criticized Bush for not better restraining spending.

Heidi Frederickson, Kennedy’s spokeswoman, noted that Bush raised money for Kennedy at a December 2005 visit and said that a Kennedy fundraiser “just didn’t work out this time. He [Bush] is here for Michele and that’s great.”

Instead, Kennedy got Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who flew into town for a brief news conference and a fundraising luncheon for Kennedy.

Reporters asked Bachmann about the tradeoff between having Bush as a fundraiser but being associated with his low approval ratings.

She was having none of it, declaring herself “thrilled” and “honored” by Bush’s help and said it was a vote of confidence in her candidacy.

“The White House takes this seat so seriously,” she said. “They wouldn’t come if I didn’t have the ability to win this seat.”

Wetterling said Bush’s visit showed that the White House was worried about the way her “message of hope and opportunity for the middle class” was catching on.

Affable and informal

The health care event had a low-key format. Bush sat behind a horseshoe-shaped table with five Minnesotans plus federal Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. The Minnesotans had each been chosen to personify one of Bush’s health care ideas.

For example, Dr. Laura Dean of Stillwater, a obstetrician/gynecologist, was chosen to highlight the issue of medical malpractice, because Bush argues that malpractice suits are driving doctors out of that specialty.
The president introduced each Minnesotan, asked a few questions and endorsed their work. He was mostly in an affable and informal mood, and joshed with the guests. But he got fairly worked up while talking to Dean, and pounded the table at one point, saying “for the sake of the country, we’d better get some medical liability legislation out of the U.S. Senate.”

The executive order Bush signed furthered the administration’s agenda of making more basic information about health care costs and quality available.

Under the order, federal agencies that run Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the health programs for federal employees and veterans, must collect information and share it with other government units to give them more leverage in purchasing health care.

“In order to do business with the federal government, you got to show us your prices,” Bush said.

Better disclosure of health care information is an important component of the administration’s agenda because it is needed to help advance the spread of health savings accounts, a key element of Bush’s health proposals.

Currently, it is hard for consumers to find out how much care will cost before a doctor’s visit. Bush’s proposal presumes that costs will be reduced because consumers will shop for the most affordable care.

“If consumers have more information from which to make decisions, all of a sudden costs begin to lessen,” he said.

While many agree that health savings accounts will increase consumer involvement and personal responsibility for health, others contend that the approach does little to stem the rising costs of catastrophic care or address the growing numbers of Americans without health insurance.

“The system needs to be changed and this is a good start,” said David Page, chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services. “But one thing that needs to be addressed is all of the people who don’t have access to health insurance.”