same day as their appearance in Milwaukee (9-15):
President Bush’s twin daughters, Jenna, left, and Barbara, call Republicans Wednesday to remind them to vote. The women were visiting St. Norbert College in De Pere.
The first daughters talked to about 70 members of the College Republicans groups from St. Norbert College and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at St. Norbert’s Vanden Heuvel Campus Center.
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The talk was closed to the public and was only open to Bush/Cheney supporters.
Speaking separately — Jenna first, followed by Barbara — each of them referred to the junior President Bush as “my dad” rather than “our dad” and sang the praises of their father and first lady Laura Bush.
“My dad has many qualities that make him a good dad as well as a good president,” a nervous Jenna said, stumbling over a few lines of her written speech. “He’s open-minded and always encouraged us to follow our own passions. It’s really important that he wins.”
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“There’s a huge benefit to voting for my dad,” Barbara said. “It means my mom will be in the White House for four more years.” She talked up Laura Bush’s activism for women in Afghanistan, calling her a “strong and caring woman.” She boasted that her mother was the first woman ever to do a presidential radio address. Barbara said it’s often been hard to be a Republican in a college atmosphere “where people aren’t supposed to vote Republican until they turn 40” but said they’re working on changing the image. She encouraged young people to vote and said, “Our God and the Republican Party are reaching out to young people.”
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After the speeches, the twins walked around and greeted students and joined the call bank to make calls. Some students asked to pose for pictures with them.
(Jenna) Check planned to meet the Bush twins once they worked their way across the room. “I’m going to tell (Jenna Bush) that I like her name,” Check said. She thought Jenna’s stumbling made her seem more human than she otherwise might, she said. “It’s to be expected,” she said. “I’d be nervous, too.” She said she figured she’d probably forget what to say once the twins approached her. “It’s as close as you get to a superstar around here,” she said.
A block away from the campus, student supporters of John Kerry waved signs bearing slogans such as “Draft Jenna” and “W Stands for Wrong.”
“It’s ironic that they sent the Bush twins to speak to a college campus, because the Bush administration has been awful to college students,” Mark Gaber, 21, a St. Norbert College senior said. “The job market is bad, and they’ve decreased funding for Pell grants. If you are not in the top 2 percent of the income earners, then you have no place in George Bush’s America.”
Jason Brinker, 21, another St. Norbert senior, said he thought it was sad that the twins’ speeches weren’t open to everybody. “Yesterday Wesley Clark came to campus, and he had an open forum where Republicans and Democrats talk about the issues rather than just a bunch of Republican cronies.”