GOP governors aren't feeling too secure

WASHINGTON — Republican governors are openly worrying that the Bush administration's latest stumbles — from the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina to problems of its own making on prescription drugs and port security — are taking an election-year toll on the party back home.

The GOP governors say the series of gaffes threatens to undermine public confidence in President Bush's ability to provide security, which has long been his greatest strength among voters.

"You've got solid conservatives coming up speaking like they haven't before; it's likely that something's going on at the grass roots," said Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina. "Whether it's temporary or not remains to be seen."

The unease was clear in interviews with more than a dozen governors attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. The annual conference was taking place in a capital enthralled by the political firestorm over government plans to approve takeover of operations at some terminals at six U.S. ports by a company owned by the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the discomfort, however, Republican governors gave the president a rock-star welcome as the headliner at a glitzy reception Monday night that added $9.6 million to GOP campaign coffers for fall races.

But Bush's allies saw weaknesses — listing the days of chaos in New Orleans after the hurricane, the nationwide confusion over the Medicare prescription-drug program that forced many states to step in to help seniors get medications, and the port-security debacle that has drawn criticism from leading Republicans in Congress and the states.

"I don't think he was well served on the port issue by the bureaucracy," said Republican Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho. "He's at the forefront on national security. ... You need to make sure that issue doesn't slip away. It's one of his strengths."

Republican Bob Taft of Ohio offered judgment on Katrina: "This is hindsight, but it was a mistake to bury FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security."

In his state, where manufacturing job losses have left it lagging behind the improved economies that much of the rest of the country has seen in the past two years, the economy plays a bigger role. "There's a sense it's more wrong direction than right track. That affects how they feel about the president, it affects how they feel about anybody in power. It's bound to play some role in the elections" for Congress and the governor's race.

The Medicare program left several governors shaking their heads. "Probably the design of the plan could've been better," said Republican Don Carcieri of Rhode Island.

The bigger problem, as he and several others saw it, is Iraq. "The biggest cumulative effect weighing on everybody is the war," said Carcieri.

For Republican Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who served in the administration as budget director and left to run for governor, the stumbles are undeniable but must be seen in context. "There's a lot of lousy luck involved," he said. "I'm not saying the White House hasn't had better days, but I'm probably not nearly so hard on them as most."

Meanwhile, Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld offered private assurances to the governors over plans to make cuts to the National Guard.

Governors went into closed-door meetings with Bush, and later with Rumsfeld and top military leaders, unified in their opposition to administration budget plans that state leaders had warned would reduce the planned force levels for the Guard.

Bush's 2007 budget submission would support a Guard of about 333,000 citizen soldiers — the current level — rather than the 350,000 authorized by Congress. At Monday's meetings, Bush, Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, promised governors that the administration would find the money to cover the higher number of troops if that many are recruited, several governors said.