Radio hosts were invited to the White House lawn on Wednesday to interview a host of top-level Bush administration officials, among them Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, and Presidential adviser Karl Rove. Also present were several members of Congress fighting for re-election.
White House communications officers described the event as "an opportunity for a medium that is not always able to cover the White House."
But Democrats pointed to the timing of the event (six days before the election) as an indication that the GOP was taking advantage of its position in the White House to garner extra publicity for its agenda before voters go to the polls. Democratic spokesperson Jennifer Palmieri derided the affair as "Appease the Right Wing Day at the White House," adding, "it reeks of an inappropriate mix of politics and official business."
Rove responded to the allegations in an interview with WLAC of Nashville, TN, saying, "People are smart enough to make up their own minds."
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