Un-elected p-Resident alert!

President Bush will come to Indianapolis next week as part of a three-state trip to sell his tax-cut package.

The White House said today that Bush will arrive in Indianapolis Monday night and will deliver a speech here Tuesday. He also will meet with a group of senior citizens.

Earlier Monday, Bush will visit Albuquerque, N.M., where he will meet with small business owners and give a speech, followed by a stop in Omaha, Neb., where he will meet with families and deliver another speech.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said that at each stop "the president will focus on different components'' of his plan.

The location, time and other details about the Indiana stop have not yet been released.

Mitch Daniels, the White House budget director who announced Tuesday that he is stepping down from that post June 6, said today he expects to join Bush at the Indianapolis speech.

Daniels is widely expected to step into a campaign to become Indiana's next governor in 2004 soon after his White House tenure ends.

Daniels said he had no role in choosing Indiana as a stop on Bush's trip to sell his tax plan. Not that Daniels calls it that.

"The jobs plan, please,'' Daniels corrected. "It's the truth. He didn't send us out last fall to do a tax plan. He sent us out to do a jobs and growth plan, and that's the tool.''

Bush originally sought $726 billion in tax cuts over 10 years. A key centerpiece was elimination of taxes on stock dividends. He's had problems getting it through Congress, even though Republicans hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate.

The House has cut it down to $550 billion, and Bush is fighting to keep Congress from whittling it even further, to the $350 billion backed by the Senate.

One reason Indiana may be on the itinerary is a Democrat -- Sen. Evan Bayh. Bayh is among the more moderate of Democrats in the Senate, and has at times voted with Bush.

Indiana Republican Party Chairman Jim Kittle noted Bush went recently to Ohio to try to influence a Republican, Sen. George Voinovich, who has staunchly resisted a bigger tax cut. Bayh's vote, Kittle said, would be a good reason for Bush to come here.

But not the only reason.

"After his tailhook landing (on the USS Abraham Lincoln last week), you know he's got high popularity nationwide. But however high it is nationwide, it must be double here,'' Kittle said. "Definitely a friendly audience.''

And he's betting that Bush puts in a plug for Daniels. Standing with Daniels in front of a crowd of a few thousand Hoosiers, many of whom probably will vote in the 2004 Republican primary for governor, is publicity no candidate can buy.

"It's kind of a signal of how he feels about Mitch,'' Kittle said.

www.indystar.com/print/articles/0/041168-7190-092.html