More Bad News from the Bush White House:

Child credit not seen as boosting Bush votes
By Wayne Washington, Boston Globe Staff, 8/6/2003

Surnita Jefferson-Jones walked into a J.C. Penney's yesterday morning with four young children and the promise of four tax credits from President Bush -- part of Bush's plan to stimulate the economy by returning cash to taxpayers. She's looking forward to the money, but come November of next year, Jefferson-Jones isn't likely to repay Bush with her vote.

''I think it's a ploy to build people's confidence,'' Jefferson-Jones said of the child-credit checks.

For Bush, having the country get an economic boost from the child-credit checks coming out this week could be crucial, as Democratic opponents hammer away, decrying the millions in job losses and the slow growth they attribute to the president's policies. But Bush and his campaign clearly hope the tax credits do more than stimulate the economy -- they want them to become almost a personal expression of Bush's concern for families.

Just last week, Bush stood in the White House Rose Garden and smiled like a TV pitchman as he told Americans: ''The check is in the mail.''

But while few are willing to return them to sender, the checks don't appear to have shifted opinions about Bush or his policies, at least not in this area of suburban Maryland, where Penney's and other retailers in the local mall are cashing the child-credit checks for free.

''You can't buy people's vote,'' said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster and strategist. ''To the extent that they're trying to do that, voters are going to resist.''

Bush administration officials deny that they chose to expand the child-tax credit retroactively, and thus be able to ship out $14 billion in checks, for political reasons.

''The president remains focused on restoring economic security to America,'' said Dan Ronayne, a spokesman for Bush's reelection campaign. ''The president has worked on putting money into the pockets of Americans when they need it most.''

The child-credit expansion, offering up to $400 per child, is only one part of the $330 billion tax-cut plan Bush signed into law in May. Some Democrats have contended that the cut for a wealthy taxpayer like Vice President Dick Cheney could, depending on investments, reach six figures.

As for the child-credit checks, Ann Hodge, walking into Penney's with her two young children, said she thinks they will help parents buy school clothes.

''I think it's great,'' Hodge said. That's the same opinion she has of Bush, she said. That he pushed for the child credit expansion ''just goes along with what I already thought of him.''

Voters in Charles County, Md., where Waldorf is located, gave a small majority of their votes to the Republican presidential candidates in 1992 and 1996, but the quickly growing county mirrored the national election in 2000, giving Al Gore a tiny 105-vote victory out of the 43,641 ballots cast. Administration officials have said they expect next year's election to be close. One Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the child credits could be the difference between winning and losing.

Only a small percentage of voters, 10 percent to 20 percent, are actually in play during a presidential election, the strategist said, and getting a fat check in the mail from one candidate can only help him. The Democratic response should be that the checks come at too high a price, swelling the deficit and preventing the expansion of popular programs like Medicare, the strategist said.