Twins charm president’s supporters in college towns, Bangor

BANGOR – The Bush twins touched down Wednesday in Maine like a pair of Texas tornadoes, dusting up a commotion with admirers and supporters wherever they went.

Barbara Bush, the brunette, and her sister, Jenna, the blonde, brought their 22-year-old political perspective to this battleground state, where President Bush and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry are in a fight to the finish for Maine’s four electoral votes.

“My dad is a great president and I really appreciate everything y’all are doing to help him continue to be a great president for four more years,” Jenna Bush said to young supporters at the University of Maine.

The twins’ visit thrusts Maine once again into the national spotlight just before tonight’s first presidential debate in Miami. Earlier this week, Chris Heinz, Kerry’s stepson, was in Maine to stump for the Democrat and, on Sunday, Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards, visited Lewiston. The president stopped in Bangor last week and his wife, first lady Laura Bush, was in the state earlier this month.

The visits by the candidates and their surrogates underscore the importance both camps are placing in Maine, which has been a summer home for the Bush family for years and is perceived by many Democrats as a natural regional ally for Kerry.

On Wednesday, the Bush daughters stopped at their father’s headquarters in Bangor to thank volunteers and even make a few phone calls on behalf of their dad. Later they addressed Republican supporters and interested students at the University of Maine before taking off for an afternoon rally in Lewiston at Bates College.

No one in the Bush campaign in Maine could say for sure where the pair was going after that. While the twins were lightly skewered by some national pundits for their remarks at the Republican National Convention, everyone in Maine treated them like rock stars Wednesday. Getting a picture taken with the twins or snagging their autographs on a shirt or cap seemed to be a primary objective for dozens of their supporters.

A volunteer named Louie arrived home Wednesday night to find a message on his answering machine from Jenna Bush who thanked him from the Bangor office.

“Somebody around here told us that you’ve been working at least once a week in Lewiston making a ton of calls and helping with anything that needs to get done,” she said. “We just really appreciate it and wish you could be here today.”

Katie Plowman, a student at Hampden Academy, chatted briefly with both of the first daughters at Bush headquarters. She said it was very exciting to meet the twins.

“I think they’re both really great women and make great role models for kids my age,” she said. “And I think that they represent the young vote in a year when it’s important that their father gets elected.”

Later, at the University of Maine, Jenna Bush told college Republicans that she and her sister have been at Kennebunkport “every summer of our lives.”

“So it’s a state that’s not our home, but pretty close,” she said.

Joking that “in the family” she was known as her grandmother’s revenge on her father, Jenna Bush said it was funny that the president had promised her mother she would never have to give a political speech when he proposed to her.

“This month alone she’ll be giving 30 political speeches – some promises are just not meant to be kept,” Jenna Bush said. “She’s an amazing first lady and despite that promise 26 years ago, we know she secretly loves being out on the campaign trail as does the rest of our family.”

Barbara Bush emphasized the importance of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 participating in national elections. She said that, too often, campaign workers discount the need to attract younger Americans and underestimate their ability to deliver votes at the ballot box.

“They think they don’t have time to keep track of big issues when we have to keep track of what’s going on in US Weekly [magazine] and MTV,” she said. “The fact is young Americans do care about the kind of country we’re building for our future and good job opportunities. It’s easy to be cynical about politics and pretend that it doesn’t matter. The truth is that the decisions the president makes today will have effects far into our future.”

Nathaniel Colby, a political science major from Waterville, enjoyed the twins’ remarks but said they hadn’t persuaded him to abandon his support for Kerry.

“I think it’s important to know other people’s views,” he said. “I think a lot of the people’s minds here are already made up and it would have been better if events like this were open to the public. This was geared toward Republicans, but it’s the independents that are going to swing this election.”

Jesse Derris, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign in Maine, said the president’s policies left little for the younger generation to cheer about since they all would be “saddled with incredible debt” resulting from the administration’s domestic and foreign policy decisions.

“They’ll be paying for President Bush’s record of failure for the next 50 years,” he said.