Bush Joins the Fray in L.A. Visit

With John F. Kerry having emerged as the clear Democratic choice to replace him, President Bush on Wednesday inaugurated the campaign’s next phase by launching direct attacks on the Massachusetts senator during a stop in Los Angeles.

Bush this year has made a practice of traveling to states after their Democratic nomination contests, countering the rhetoric from the rival-party candidates by offering some of his own. The president’s Los Angeles visit came the day after Kerry romped to victory in the California primary and won votes in eight other states, becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

“Last night I placed a call to Sen. Kerry. I told him I was looking forward to a spirited campaign,” Bush told a cheering crowd of donors at the Shrine Auditorium, each of whom donated $2,000 to his reelection campaign. “He spent two decades in Congress. He built up quite a record. In fact, Sen. Kerry has been in Washington long enough to take both sides on just about every issue.”

With that and other remarks, Bush laid out some of the key arguments he is expected to use against Kerry.

Kerry wants to rescind the portion of the Bush tax cuts for the affluent, and the president used that proposal to frame a broad attack against him.

“The tax relief we passed is working. My opponent has plans for those tax cuts. He wants to take them away,” Bush said. “And he will use that money to expand the federal government.... He seems to be against every idea that gives Americans more authority, more choices and more control over their own lives.”

Despite his three years in the nation’s most powerful job, Bush blamed Kerry and other Washington officeholders for what ails the country.

“It’s the same old Washington mindset -- they’ll give the orders, and you will pay the bills,” Bush said. “I’ve got news for the Washington crowd: America has gone beyond that way of thinking, and we’re not going back.”

He derided Kerry’s position on the war in Iraq. Although the senator supported the congressional resolution authorizing the war, he has since assailed Bush for not building more international support before resorting to military action.

“My opponent admits that [former Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein was a threat. He just didn’t support my decision to remove Saddam from power,” Bush said. “Maybe he was hoping Saddam would lose the election in Iraq.”

Bush added: “My opponent says he approves of bold action in the world, but only if other countries don’t object. America must never outsource America’s national security decisions to leaders of other countries.”

Earlier in the day, in a speech to church and community workers at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Bush eschewed political rhetoric.

“I’m honored that here in the City of Angels, there are so many people doing God’s work,” Bush told an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,200 church and community workers who heard about the president’s “faith-based” initiative. “And let me put your mind at ease -- we’re talking about healing our nation. We’re not talking politics.”

But the rest of his two-day visit to California clearly has a political focus. After the fundraiser at the Shrine Auditorium, he headed to the Bel-Air home of Univision Chief Executive A. Jerrold Perenchio to raise money for the national Republican Party.

Guests at the latter, private event were to include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Today, Bush flies to Bakersfield to make remarks about the issue voters have been saying tops their priorities -- the economy -- before flying to Silicon Valley to attend another fundraiser in Santa Clara.

While in the state, he is expected to raise $1.5 million for his campaign and $3.5 million for the party.

Although the Democrats have easily carried California in recent presidential elections, Schwarzenegger’s election in last year’s recall vote has bolstered GOP hopes that Bush can be more competitive in the state this year. One way party leaders hope to make inroads is through religious organizations that share his conservatism on social issues and support for Israel.

Bush’s faith-based initiative -- which aims to channel more federal money to community organizations run by religious organizations -- also is designed to increase support for the president among such groups.

Bush’s remarks to the Convention Center gathering included references to the role faith played in his decision to stop drinking. For instance, in greeting John Baker, founder of Celebrate Recovery, a ministry in Lake Forest for former addicts, Bush noted that they shared a common history.

“We used to drink too much,” he said. “And our hearts changed, and then we quit. That is a tried-and-true formula.”

Bush came into office vowing to direct more federal funding to religious organizations working in community outreach.

His proposed legislation ran into opposition from both parties in Congress, and he eventually began a stripped-down version of his proposal by executive order.

Bush said that in 2003, the federal government issued $1.1 billion in grants to faith-based organizations.

Harriet Rosetto, who works with the group Beit T’Shuvah, a Jewish organization in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles that seeks to help people end addictions, said she was impressed by Bush’s nonpartisan speech.

Rosetto, who described her political affiliation as “not Republican,” said, “For me, a person who has been running a faith-based program for almost 20 years, to have it validated by the president of the United States is a very exciting state of affairs.”

The Los Angeles event was the 11th regional conference sponsored by the White House to educate church and community programs about how to apply for grant money through the faith-based initiative.

Times staff writer Jia-Rui Chong contributed to this report.