Politics

Bush will head to Midland after presidency for welcome-home event

Dallas Morning News - 1/8/09 - George W. Bush will make his first stop in Texas as ex-president in his boyhood home of Midland, where a welcome-home rally is planned in the town square that served as his send-off to the White House.

Eight years ago, in January 2001, Bush, then the president-elect, attended a rally in Centennial Plaza before heading to Washington.

White House press secretary Dana Perino announced Wednesday that when Bush leaves Jan. 20 from Andrews Air Force Base, he’ll make an appearance at the plaza before spending his first night as a private citizen at his Crawford ranch.

“Midland will be thrilled to see him,” said Sue Brannon, chairman of the Midland County Republican Party.

The president’s approval ratings are at historic lows nationally, but supporters say he remains a favorite son in the West Texas town where he was raised and where he worked in the oil business.

“He will be warmly received. Everybody here loves him dearly,” said Brannon. “Everybody understands what the press has done to him. We’re so fortunate that he was in office because our country is secure because of him.”

There had been speculation that he and first lady Laura Bush would go directly to Crawford or to their newly purchased home in Dallas.

Brannon said Bush told her at a Christmas party at the White House in December that Midland would be his first stop after leaving the White House.

“He said, ?My friends are in Midland,’.” she said. “He’ll be spending more time than you think in Midland.”

The president’s last visit to the West Texas city was in October, when he attended a Republican fundraiser at the home of U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway.

While in Midland, he married Laura and ran unsuccessfully for Congress. In 1987, after several difficult years in the oil business, he moved to Dallas, where he became managing general partner of the Texas Rangers.

The White House announcement caught some in the city by surprise. A person answering the phone at the Midland Chamber of Commerce said she had yet to hear about the plans from the White House.

Full post as published by Mike Conaway's Blog on January 09, 2009 (boomark / email).