Many Hopefuls Keep Bush Ties Under Wraps

President Bush speaks during a joint press availability with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in the East Room of the White House in Washington Friday, Sept. 22, 2006. Bush said Friday he was "taken aback" by a purported U.S. threat to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) (Ron Edmonds - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Since President Bush's approval rating sank to the lowest level of his presidency in May, nearly six in 10 of his appearances helping Republican candidates have been closed to all media coverage.

Unlike his barnstorming leading up to the 2002 congressional elections, when he was more popular and the divisive Iraq war had not begun, Bush has yet to hold a single traditional campaign-style rally for one of his party's hopefuls this election cycle.

Every one of his events for GOP gubernatorial, House and Senate candidates has been to raise money from faithful Republican donors _ not to urge support among the broader voting public.

The GOP's control of Congress is in danger. The tendency of many Republican candidates to keep their president under wraps is represented starkly in Bush's schedule in the week ahead.

Republicans hardly have abandoned their enthusiasm for having the president exercise his talent at raising money for their campaigns. But of six fundraisers Bush is headlining this week, all but one _ for Alabama Gov. Bob Riley _ are private, by agreement between the White House and the campaigns.

GOP Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, one of the more vulnerable Republicans, is a case study in the sometimes tricky dynamics of a president's assistance.

Bush is raising money for DeWine on Monday at a private home in Cincinnati. It is the third time the president will have helped the senator, to the tune of about a $1 million each time. No other candidate has rated as many appearances from Bush, and all have happened out of public view.

Earlier in the year, there was so much discussion of why DeWine was snubbing the president whenever he traveled to Ohio that the senator eschewed his family's baseball seats to take in the Cincinnati Reds' home opener at Bush's side.

A photo of the two, taken at the airport in June when Bush last traveled to Ohio for a closed DeWine fundraiser, is the primary image of an anti-DeWine ad by the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. Above the picture of the two, smiling with arms around each others' shoulders, the ad says: "Mike DeWine likes working together ... with George Bush."

DeWine's campaign stresses that all the senator's fundraisers are closed and that there is no attempt to shun the president. "Not at all," said spokesman Brian Seitchik, who added that DeWine plans to appear with Bush during a tour, open to reporters, of a business earlier Monday.

Still, DeWine's ads have emphasized his independence and ability to work with Democrats.

Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce, the fourth-ranking House Republican, once cozy with Bush. Now she stresses her independent side as she struggles to hold onto her seat in an evenly split district. Bush is returning to Ohio on Thursday to raise money for her; this reception also is closed.