Midwest Republicans meet to prepare for 2004 elections By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN AP Political Writer MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox invoked a possible win by Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean over President Bush to fire up Republican activists from the Midwest Friday night. "Imagine that on 2004 Election Night you turn on your TV, and you hear this from Dan Rather: 'Michigan's 17 electoral votes go to Howard Dean,'" Cox said to boos from the audience. "Think about that. Let those painful words haunt you as you go to bed tonight: 'President Dean.' I'd sooner have Jimmy Dean than Howard Dean," he added as the audience laughed. Cox made his remarks shortly after Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, spoke to about 1,500 Republicans from a dozen Midwestern states, including Wisconsin, gathered for a GOP leadership conference on Mackinac Island. Cheney said the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq "are making remarkable progress, and I don't think we hear enough about it." She noted that 43 of the 55 Iraqi leaders sought by U.S. forces have been killed or captured; that U.S. soldiers are painting schools, building refugee housing and handing out free medical supplies; and that Iraq's political infrastructure is gradually emerging. "In Iraq, where Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons and sought nuclear capability, many terrorists found sanctuary," Cheney said. "Thanks to President Bush and his administration, Saddam Hussein's regime is no more." Her comments were more careful than televised comments made by her husband last weekend that clouded the issue on whether there was a proven link between Saddam and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. President Bush said Wednesday there was no evidence that Saddam was involved in the terrorist attacks. Besides his comments Friday night, Cox helped set the tone for the four-day GOP conference with T-shirts he handed out earlier in the day. Beneath a picture of the Michigan governor's Mackinac Island residence were the words: "Take Back the Mansion. Keep the White House. Keep the State House." Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm isn't up for re-election until 2006, but Cox is considered likely to try to copy Granholm at some point and use the attorney general's spot he won in 2002 as a springboard for the governorship. Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, also considered a gubernatorial aspirant, had teams of helpers planting yard signs leading up to the Grand Hotel and in other visible spots. Dean, the former Vermont governor, is one of 10 Democrats running for their party's presidential nomination. Then-Gov. George W. Bush of Texas lost Michigan to Democratic Vice President Al Gore in 2000, and state Republicans are determined to avoid a similar scenario next year. "Do you remember that painful Tuesday in November of 2000 when you turned on your TV a little bit after 8 p.m. and you had to listen to Dan Rather come out and say that Michigan had gone to Al Gore?" Cox asked. "Our greatest task _ our greatest obligation _ to ourselves and our children must be the re-election of President George Bush next year." Although Cox said it was important not to let any of the Democratic presidential candidates beat Bush, he invoked only Dean's name to make his point. "Let those words, 'President Dean,' sink in," he said. "Those words ought to send chills down your back and put time on your calendar for our president and his re-election in 2004." Dean campaign spokeswoman Courtney O'Donnell said the former governor was growing used to such language from Republicans. But she said it wouldn't work. "This politics of fear is not the most effective way to drive the American public. ... That's why we see, again and again when these attacks are launched, it really rallies our base of support in Michigan and across the 50 states," she said from Dean headquarters in Vermont. While GOP activists such as Cox may be working to re-elect Bush, "there are hundreds of people working every night for the day when there is a President Dean," she added. Gov. Granholm's family extensively used the governor's residence on Mackinac Island this summer while the governor's residence in Lansing was being renovated. But the Democratic governor won't be on the island this weekend. Instead, she plans to travel to Indiana on Saturday to pay her respects to the family of the late Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon. O'Bannon, a Democrat, died five days after suffering a stroke Sept. 8. A memorial service was held Friday. ___ EDITOR's NOTE: Kathy Barks Hoffman heads the Lansing AP bureau and has covered Michigan politics since 1986. ___ On the Net: Midwest Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, http://www.mackinacconference.com