Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Feel free to use this picture

Even before President Bush touches down in the Twin Cities on Tuesday to raise money for Sen. Norm Coleman, some Minnesota Republicans seem ready to wave goodbye to the president.

Keenly aware of Bush's sagging poll numbers -- and the obvious Democratic strategy of stitching GOP candidates like Coleman as tightly as possible to the White House -- Republican strategists are pronouncing the lame-duck president a non-issue in next year's Senate race.

"We're entering into a post-Bush world," said Mark Drake, a spokesman for the Minnesota Republican Party, "whether the Democrats like it or not."

Regular photo ops with Coleman at Bush's side aren't likely. It's not even certain that the Democrats will get the camera angle they seek a year from now at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. While most departing presidents of modern times have attended their party's convention and been lavishly saluted there, Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican Convention, said Bush's involvement "has not been determined."