Source: New York Times
Candidates like Indiana Representative Mike Sodrel (R) are avoiding President George Bush like the plague in a clear effort to distance themselves from the tarnished, beleaguered president.
Bush, once a diamond in the rough for the GOP, has become a cancer and a threat to every Republican party member from the local races to the national scene seeking re-election.
Get caught in a picture or press release with the president, and one might as well be filling out their own pink slip and nailing the final nail in the coffin that has become their political career.
NEW ALBANY, Ind., April 22 -- Fate has turned Representative Mike Sodrel's re-election campaign into a test case of the impact of public discontent with President Bush and the war in Iraq.
Two years ago, Mr. Sodrel, a Republican and the owner of a trucking company, stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Bush in support of the invasion of Iraq, and his campaign featured a procession of appearances with Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and several cabinet members. Mr. Bush won 59 percent of the vote in the district, and the Republican tide helped push him to victory by a few hundred votes over the Democratic incumbent, Baron Hill.
This fall he faces a rematch against Mr. Hill, but like Republican incumbents around the country, Mr. Sodrel is running at a time when disillusionment with the war has turned association with Mr. Bush from a credential to a question mark in the eyes of many voters.
Tags: [Bush], [Cheney], [GOP], [Republicans], [Republican candidates are distancing themselves from Bush in order to keep/get votes], [Indiana], [Indiana representative], [Mike Sodrel]
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