WACO, Texas — Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani will join President Bush on the campaign trail today, then stump on his own for the president for the rest of the week, focusing on the war on terror in the final days of the campaign.
Mr. Giuliani, widely admired for his performance after the September 11 attacks, flew to Texas yesterday and greeted Mr. Bush at the bottom of the steps of Air Force One last night.
An official close to Mr. Giuliani said he will split from the president’s entourage after appearances in Colorado and Iowa today, then head to Nevada, California and Missouri on Mr. Bush’s behalf.
Mr. Giuliani is expected to join up with the campaign in Ohio over the weekend, the official said, setting up a possible three-star lineup in that key state if California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, keeps his promise to campaign for the president there. Mr. Schwarzenegger, who sponsors an annual bodybuilding contest in Columbus, has called Ohio his second home.
White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett told reporters covering Mr. Bush’s rally in Alamogordo, N.M., yesterday that the president is going to be debuting a speech today in Greeley, Colo., “talking about his vision for winning the war on terror and protecting our families, and how that differs from Senator [John] Kerry’s approach.”
“There’ll be new language. There are many different arguments to be made to make the same point,” he said. “He’ll be making the case as well [today] about why the war on terror is important in protecting America’s families, how you approach the war on terror and the differences.”
In Friday’s speech, in a battleground state yet to be determined, “he’ll talk in very personal terms how he views this war and what we need to do to win the war on terror through the eyes of the people he’s met with and who have shaped his experiences as president during these historic times we live in,” Mr. Bartlett said.
The speech will help kick off a TV ad released this week that will talk about “the big choices and the big differences there are” between Mr. Bush’s approach to national security and that advocated by Mr. Kerry, Mr. Bartlett said.
Then the Bush campaign’s final ad focusing on the president’s performance in the days after the September 11 attacks — when his job approval ratings were in the high 80s for weeks — will debut on Friday.
“The closing ad will be an ad in which President Bush in 60 seconds captures what the American people not only like, but also trust, in this president during the times we live in, the leadership qualities they’re looking for in a president,” Mr. Bartlett said.
“It’s going to be all about President Bush. Nothing about Senator Kerry,” Mr. Bartlett said, adding that the ad will consist entirely of President Bush delivering a speech, “and it will be seen all over America.”
Yesterday, Mr. Kerry criticized Mr. Bush’s comments about the war on terror, citing the president’s interview with Fox News.
“America is safer under the course of action we’ve taken, but not yet safe. Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up, you know, is up in the air,” Mr. Bush told “Hannity and Colmes” co-host Sean Hannity in an interview airing today.
Mr. Kerry called that “another moment of candor” for Mr. Bush.
“You make me president of the United States, we are going to win the war on terror. It’s not going to be up in the air whether or not we make America safe,” Mr. Kerry said.
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