GENERAL ELECTION Bush returns to the Valley to speak at rally at airport

Democrat John Kerry will visit the Valley on Saturday.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's crunch time when it comes to the presidential race, and the Mahoning Valley is in the middle of it.
President Bush was to speak today at a rally at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. Local Republicans distributed about 10,000 tickets to the event.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, will hold a rally Saturday in the Mahoning Valley, said Brendon Cull, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Coordinated Campaign. The time, location and other rally details should be announced Thursday, Cull said.
Joe Lockhart, Kerry's senior adviser, said Kerry or U.S. Sen. John Edwards, his vice presidential running mate, will campaign in Ohio every day until Election Day.
"Our No. 1 priority from the beginning has been Ohio," he said during a teleconference Tuesday with Ohio reporters.
Regarding Bush's visit today, Lockhart said he finds it interesting that with less than a week to go before the election, the Republican president is campaigning in traditionally Democratic areas such as the Mahoning Valley.
"The people of Youngstown are smart enough to realize they've been ignored for four years, and now they get a visit [from Bush] during the last week," he said.
Top priority
Kevin Madden, a Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman, said Ohio is a top priority.
"We will have every inch of Ohio covered all the way until Election Day," he said. "The enthusiasm and energy for the president among our supporters and volunteers is turbo-charged right now. The president and vice president are fired up to take our case to the Ohio voters."
The president was scheduled to land at the airport at 1:35 p.m. today, walk to a location near the Winner Aviation hangar and begin speaking to the crowd at 1:50 p.m. After the rally, he was to get on Air Force One and leave the area at 2:50 p.m.
Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey, a Democrat who endorsed Bush, was to emcee the event. McKelvey was to introduce U.S. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, the most prominent elected Democrat to endorse Bush. Miller, who was in Youngstown last week, was to introduce Bush.
At today's event, Bush was to discuss homeland security, the economy, education and health care, Madden said.
McKelvey, who introduced Bush at a Canton speech Friday, will do the same at an event Thursday in Dayton. The mayor said he will fly on Air Force One with Bush to introduce the president at a rally in Westlake, a Cleveland suburb, later that day.
Saving the air base
McKelvey said he plans to continue to lobby Bush about saving the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, which employs more than 2,000 people and is next to the airport.
"He's aware of the air base, and he's going to be even more aware [today], and what the base means to this community," the mayor said.
The federal government is moving ahead with plans to reduce the number of domestic military bases by about 25 percent. The list is expected to be released next year.
Local Kerry supporters planned a protest against Bush outside the airport.
Mark Munroe, Bush-Cheney's Mahoning County chairman and the county's Republican vice chairman, said of the president's visit, "This is huge."
"The fact that President Bush is coming to the Mahoning Valley less than a week from Election Day shows how important Ohio and this area is to the presidential campaign. One of the criticisms we always hear is the Democrats ignore the Valley, and Republicans write it off. No one can say that this year," he said.
This is Bush's second visit this year to the Valley. He held a discussion on community health care centers at Youngstown State University on May 25, but that was an official presidential visit.
When Kerry visits the Valley on Saturday, it will be his sixth time in the area this year.
Also, Michael Moore, producer/director of the controversial anti-Bush film "Fahrenheit 9/11," is scheduled to speak at noon Thursday at the Chestnut Room at Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center.
skolnick@vindy.com