Bush Cancels Appearance at G.O.P. Event
By RICHARD L. BERKE
ASHINGTON, Oct. 23 — It was an unusual debate at the highest levels of the White House: Could President Bush afford to be a politician again?
The answer, Mr. Bush himself concluded late today, was no.
The president had been scheduled to be the marquee attraction at a $1 million Republican fund-raising dinner this Thursday, an engagement that had left his aides agonizing over whether he should attend.
Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, thought he should, officials and event organizers said. But Vice President Dick Cheney and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, thought the timing inappropriate, the officials said.
Late today, Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, said Mr. Bush had decided to send the vice president in his place.
"President Bush," Mr. Bartlett said, "just returned from China and is focusing on the war effort."
The dinner, billed as "An Evening With President George W. Bush," is a fund-raiser to benefit the Republican Governors Association and will be held at the National Building Museum here. It was planned long before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, but the events of that day ultimately led to wrangling at the White House over whether Mr. Bush should appear there, at what would have been his first partisan event since the attacks.
"You could argue one side or the other," Ronald Kaufman, finance chairman of the governors association, said before the decision was made late today. "There are legitimate, different schools of thought on every public activity right now."
White House officials, as well as organizers of the event, said Mr. Rove had been among those urging the president to attend.
"There's a strong argument that if you really want the country to get back to normal, politics and fund- raising are all part of America," said one prominent Republican involved with the dinner. "Karl is a pretty articulate proponent of that argument."
There were financial considerations, too, of course. The Republicans are counting on collecting more than $1 million from the dinner to help their candidates in the two elections for governor next month, in New Jersey and Virginia.
But others, including Mr. Cheney and Mr. Card, questioned the wisdom of Mr. Bush's attendance, people involved in the event said. The vice president and the chief of staff were described as concerned that Mr. Bush not appear too political at a time of crisis, when the White House is trying to foster an atmosphere of bipartisanship.
"My view is that he shouldn't do it," said one person associated with the event. "There's a war going on."
In addressing the president's decision late today, Mr. Bartlett, the communications director, said that although Mr. Bush would not attend the fund-raiser, he would meet with Republican governors earlier on Thursday.
As recently as this afternoon, though, White House officials had said that there was a better-than- even chance that Mr. Bush would be at the dinner, and that they had already begun preparing a speech for him. Officials said his speechwriters had been told to draft an address in which he would explain the objectives of his military and domestic actions since Sept. 11. One White House aide said the instructions were to make the speech "high-toned and nonpartisan."
Clinton Key, executive director of the governors association, had already said that ticket buyers who wanted refunds would get them if Mr. Bush did not attend. But Mr. Kaufman, the association's finance chairman, said he hoped that participants would be content to mingle with the governors; he said 18 of the 29 Republican governors would attend.
"He's got to do what's best for the country," Mr. Kaufman said of the president. "Folks are going to get their money's worth. Everybody understands right now that these are extraordinary times."
The Republican and Democratic Parties both suspended fund-raising efforts after the attacks, but resumed early this month. Mr. Bush's participation in this fund-raiser had been considered important because it was the biggest donors who expected to have the greatest access to him there. The invitation said anyone who contributed or raised $100,000 or more could be part of the "official presidential arrival party." Among other things, they were also to get four tickets to a private reception and photo opportunity, presumably with the president.
The cheapest ticket for the dinner costs $1,000.
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