They're Running the War in Iraq Too.

The Dallas Morning News runs the headline, "Bush plans trip to vote in Crawford" but the real reason for the trip at tax payer expense is "to vote in Tuesday's Republican primary after aides apparently forgot to order an absentee ballot."

Mr. Bush hasn't missed a GOP contest since he started voting in Crawford in March 2002. An administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated Saturday that White House staff had slipped up on the paperwork for requesting a mail-in ballot this time.

Early Saturday, with the president at risk of missing the election - including a nomination fight for the local congressional seat -– the White House announced he would fly to Crawford after a meeting with the Russian foreign minister at the White House. He'll arrive at the polls at the Crawford Fire Station before the 7 p.m. closing.

So it takes three days to get any sort of Presidential response to a disaster like Hurricane Katrina - which saw people clinging to their rooftops for days and slowly dying in the Super Dome - but a Republican Primary in Texas is so important that the President will modify his schedule to fly down because his staff is just as good at getting absentee ballots as it is at hitting quails with birdshot.


Bush Texas Primary Priorities