I grant that all politicians (including Pres Bush) will take the easy way of political expediency especially if there were legitimate polls that indicated that a large majority of people were behind the AW ban (or other unconstitutional laws; we have seen that over and over again). But until the media (with the help of some lunatic perpetrating a major massacre) whips up an hysterical frenzy over this, the Republican Congressional Leadership should understand that they have a lot more to possibly lose if they send along a permanent extension of this law. Several studies have been commissioned concerning the effects of the 94 AW ban, one from the Clinton administration DOJ itself. The conclusion has been that this ban has had no measurable positive effect on the incidence of gun crimes.
How much political capitol do the Repubos think they are going to get from making this worthless law permanent? It can be renewed only at their detriment. The real truth about this whole business, is that the media is somehow behind the entire thing; that they want to push this to front stage to scare the already squeamish repubos into thinking that little old ladies will demand their heads for "bowing to the likes of the NRA". I think the entire notion that the President is "in trouble" with his core supporters is just so much BS invented by the media, the propaganda arm of the DNC.