EX-PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH CAMPAIGNS HERE FOR JIM TALENT

The following piece by Jo Mannies appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, November 18, 2001.

With Thanksgiving just days away, former President George Bush advised Americans to take his son's advice: "We've got to get on with things."

That includes getting back on airplanes, the elder Bush said here Saturday night.

"Barb and I have no reluctance to fly the commercial airlines," he said. "We cannot get into foxholes like Osama bin Laden is doing."

The father of the current president was in town to campaign for former Rep. Jim Talent, R-Chesterfield, who is running for the Senate next year. Talent expects to face Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Mo., who is completing a two-year term. She was appointed last year after the posthumous victory of her husband, Gov. Mel Carnahan, over Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo.

The former president said his appearance signaled the family's strong support for Talent. Although President George W. Bush is not campaigning for anyone right now, "He hasn't lost interest in politics or in getting his agenda done," the elder Bush said.

He and his son share an aim next year, Bush said: The president "would like control of the Senate." Democrats now have a working majority of one vote in the chamber.

The elder Bush said his strong support for Talent was the only reason why he had agreed to conduct a news conference. He declined to comment about the war in Afghanistan other than to say, "I think the ground war is doing far better" than many pundits had expected.

"Many of the talking heads didn't get it right," the elder Bush said.

He said that his son in the White House wasn't the only one having to deal with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. He noted that another son, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, has had to deal with plummeting tourism, whichhas hurt the state's economy.

The elder Bush was pleased that "things seem to be coming back" and more people seem to be traveling to Florida and elsewhere.

He said that he and the president "talk all the time" but that it's "factually wrong" for anyone to imply that he offers advice. His son is doing well enough on his own, Bush said.

"I don't do press conferences. I don't do op-ed pieces. I don't have to do that anymore," the elder Bush said.

At 77, he said, "I'm a happy guy."

The elder George Bush was elected president on Nov. 8, 1988, sworn in on Jan. 20, 1989, and served until Jan. 20, 1993.

Carnahan said in an interview last week that she was not surprised that members of the Bush family were campaigning for Talent. Still, she added, "I don't see people campaigning that much right now."

Since the terrorist attacks, she said, the public wants its officeholders to concentrate on related issues and not on political activities.

Carnahan acknowledged doing some fund raising but said it was low-key. Her last campaign-finance report showed her with about $2 million in the bank.

Talent's higher-profile activities won't affect her own timetable, she said. She has yet to announce whether she will seek four more years and won't declare her decision until "after the first of the year," she said.