President campaigns in Louisiana

Published 9:00 pm Friday, May 21, 2004

BATON ROUGE, La. – Campaigning in the deep South, President Bush on Friday defended the Iraq war, helped his party raise $2 million and shared life lessons with Louisiana State University graduates. “Choose your friends carefully,” he told them.

The political overtones of Bush’s visit to Louisiana were not lost on the commencement crowd.

As Bush received an honorary doctorate, a man in the auditorium shouted, “You’re the man!” After a moment of silence, another shouted, “Four more years.” Then, after a round of applause, still another yelled, “Five more years!”

Earlier, though, several members of the audience remained seated when the crowd rose to its feet and applauded when the president was introduced.

Bush won Louisiana comfortably in 2000, but Democrat John Kerry, who has visited the state three times in the past two months, has put the conservative-leaning state in play. Louisiana, which has nine electoral votes, is one of 19 states that Kerry has targeted with a $25 million television advertising blitz, and the Bush campaign is advertising there as well.