In N.Y., top Bush aides rev up Ohio delegates

NEW YORK — Top Bush advisers Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman made their first official appearances at the Republican National Convention before the Ohio delegation Monday, kicking off a weeklong parade of impassioned pep talks from party VIPs about the high stakes in Ohio.

Rove, Bush's senior adviser, implored the state's Republicans to "do more than you have ever done before" to help Bush carry their crucial state and get re-elected.

"We've got 64 days left — not that we're counting," Rove said. "We've got to stretch every nerve. We've got to work every muscle. We've got to use every brain cell. We've got to ask every friend, every family member, every person we know to get involved with this."

The 179-member delegation kicked off its first official day at the GOP convention with a breakfast featuring Rove and other speakers, including Bush-Cheney campaign manager Mehlman, White House domestic affairs adviser Margaret Spellings, U.S. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, Gov. Bob Taft and Sen. George Voinovich. National and international reporters interviewed several Ohio delegates and alternates, who later took their seats front and center on the convention floor. Taft and U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce of Columbus addressed the convention Monday afternoon.

Rove — introduced by Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery as "the man who is making us work like the devil" — urged delegates to concentrate on registering voters as well as motivating the party's base. He said the number of undecided voters is "smaller than probably any presidential election in our lifetime."

Raising images of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center approximately 75 blocks south of the Marriott Marquis where the Ohio delegates are staying, Rove said, "Whether you like it or not, Ohio is ground zero. We'll be coming back again and again and again."

President Bush, in fact, will have made three visits to the state within eight days, swinging through western Ohio on Saturday, stopping in Columbus on Wednesday before arriving in New York and returning to Ashtabula this weekend. During a press briefing after his speech, Rove also defended the selection of more moderate featured speakers at the convention such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, instead of the party's more conservative leaders.

Rove said, "I think those are false distinctions. It's about reaching out to all America."

Mehlman told Ohio delegates that the election will decide "the course of our nation." He said Bush's policy of reducing taxes, government regulations and lawsuits are saving Ohio jobs.