By Ray Barrington
News-Chronicle
Lt Gov. Barbara Lawton fired up a flare Monday to battle the spotlight that will be on Appleton today when President Bush visits town.
"I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say about the economy," she said in a conference call with state reporters. The call was run by organizers for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Which meant that most of what Lawton had to say wasn't too complimentary to the president. "I hope he'll address the loss of jobs we've suffered in Wisconsin - 83,000 manufacturing jobs since we took office," she said. "Appleton's the home of Harry Houdini, and we're wondering why the jobs have disappeared.
"We have the feeling the presidency has abandoned us in some way."
She said his promises of job creation in the 2000 campaign had fallen short, and that the nation had lost three million jobs.
"We keep hearing about indicators, but they're not transferring into jobs to supply income for average people," she said.
She said the president was "forcing policy" by shrinking federal resources to state government, and cited Gov. Jim Doyle's attempt to help state residents get prescription drugs from Canada, an attempt being fought by federal regulators.
Bush is scheduled to speak today at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in what may be the first of several visits by both major candidates to the area. Administration officials said it was a "presidential" visit and not a "campaign" visit.
"I was amused he said it wasn't a campaign visit, but I'm sure one wouldn't make an official visit to Fargo, N.D., unless it was very important," Lawton said.
But she's expecting a lot of activity. The state will be a key one, "as well it should," she said.
"Our state makes it clear what's at stake, whether it's manufacturing jobs lost or the situation of public education," she said.
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