MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press writer | Posted: Saturday, October 28, 2006 12:00 am
WASHINGTON - President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will make separate appearances next week in Montana to campaign for Sen. Conrad Burns, who is in a tight race with Democratic challenger Jon Tester.
The White House confirmed Friday that Bush will be in Billings Nov. 2 for a rally to support Burns and other Republican candidates in the state.
The Daily Inter Lake of Kalispell reported Friday that Cheney's office confirmed the vice president would attend a rally for Burns on Nov. 1.
"He will be there," Megan McGinn, a spokeswoman for the vice president in Washington, D.C., told the Inter Lake. It will be Cheney's second visit to the area this year. He was in Whitefish in August for an event supporting Burns.
McGinn said an advance team is working on logistics and arrangements for the rally at the Majestic Valley Arena north of Kalispell.
The visits come as recent polls show Burns' support among voters below 50 percent in his bid for a fourth Senate term. Burns is widely considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the country.
"Senator Burns is the kind of person the people of Montana need in the U.S. Senate and the president is proud to help him win re-election," White House spokesman Alex Conant said Friday.
Conant said Bush is campaigning in Montana and across the country "so we can to keep taxes low and our economy growing."
Bush, who carried Montana in the 2004 presidential election with 59 percent of the vote, has seen low approval ratings in the state this year. In a poll conducted earlier this month by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for McClatchy Newspapers and MSNBC, 24 percent of likely Montana voters strongly approved of Bush's overall performance as president. Forty-one percent strongly disapproved his performance.
Tester spokesman Matt McKenna said the Democrats "welcome the president to Montana."
"He'll get a firsthand look at a state hungry for change and ready to replace Senator Conrad Burns with an honest leader committed to putting Montana first," McKenna said.
Burns spokesman Jason Klindt said Bush's visit would not be a liability to the campaign and Burns is "excited and honored" to have both Bush and Cheney campaign in the state.
"Absolutely he helps," Klindt said.