ELECTION 2004 Bush plans a visit to city

World events could cancel the president's trip to Youngstown.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
and ROGER G. SMITH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- President Bush is tentatively planning a visit to Youngstown next week.
Mayor George M. McKelvey said plans are fluid and world events could cancel the visit, but Bush intends to be here. The Democratic mayor is supposed to be at the White House on Wednesday to participate in a private 25-person dinner with the Republican president.
Mark Munroe, the Mahoning County Republican vice chairman, said the plans are tentative, but if Bush comes to town Tuesday, it will be on official presidential business, and not a campaign event.
Informed sources in Washington, D.C., and Youngstown say the tentative plan is for Bush to discuss a health-care initiative.
Youngstown sources say sites being considered for a Bush appearance include the vicinity of Ursuline High School, the Veterans Administration clinic on Belmont Avenue, and Amedia Plaza on Boardman Street. Local Republicans say Bush aides haven't decided where the visit will be.
Amedia Plaza is the main office and a residential facility for the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority. Eugenia C. Atkinson is YMHA's executive director, and one of the Bush/Cheney re-election committee's two Northeast Ohio regional co-chairmen. Her husband, Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, is a top local Republican official.
White House spokesman Jim Morrell said the president's schedule for next week will be finalized today. Until then, he declined to confirm Bush's visit to Youngstown.
Advance people in town
Munroe said things can change in an instant. The president had tentative plans to come to Youngstown two or three other times in the past, and each fell through.
"But it appears they've got advance people in town for this one, which is a clue" that Bush is serious about coming to Youngstown on Tuesday, he said. Also, McKelvey said U.S. Secret Service agents are in the city.
"It reflects the importance of this area to his re-election," Monroe said. "It will energize his supporters in the area."
Bush visited Youngstown in summer 2000 immediately after the Republican National Convention. During the whistle-stop train trip, McKelvey spoke with Bush.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, had an April 27 rally in downtown Youngstown. Kerry also visited Struthers two months earlier.
Ohio is viewed as a key battleground state between Kerry and Bush.
The Kerry campaign is counting on strong numbers in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, traditional Democratic strongholds. In 2000, Al Gore, the then-Democratic presidential candidate, received 61 percent of the Mahoning County vote and 60 percent of the Trumbull vote. Even with the big victories in the Valley, Gore lost Ohio -- and the election -- to Bush.
Munroe says if Kerry's vote can be kept to 60 percent or under, Bush will win re-election.
Mayor wooed
McKelvey is being wooed by the Bush campaign, unlike Kerry's, during the Democratic candidate's last visit.
Even though they share the same party affiliation, McKelvey wasn't invited to stand on the platform with Kerry during last month's rally a block away from city hall.
Meanwhile, Bush invited McKelvey to greet him last Labor Day when the president got off Air Force One to deliver a speech in the Cleveland area. During that discussion, Bush invited McKelvey to visit him at the White House. Plans for that were finalized this week; McKelvey will attend a private dinner Wednesday, and intends to be at Bush's Tuesday speech.
If the president comes to Youngstown, McKelvey hopes he could fly on Air Force One back to Washington with the president the day before he attends the private White House dinner.
McKelvey says he will not endorse either candidate in the 2004 general election, and wants to develop relationships with Bush and Kerry in order to help Youngstown on the federal level.
Street closures?
The city public works department hasn't been approached about closing streets or making other arrangements, said Carmen Conglose Jr., deputy director. His office usually is among the first notified when high-level government officials visit, he said.
The traffic office reviews road closure requests and issues parade and assembly permits, he said. The police ultimately decide whether to issue permits, he said.
The last visit to Youngstown by a sitting president was when President Clinton came to the B & amp;O Station during his re-election campaign in 1996.
In 1980, President Carter visited downtown, and participated in a parade that went down Boardman Street.
skolnick@vindy.comrgsmith@vindy.com