Out on a Limb, Looking for Votes

Bush-Cheney campaign chair Marc Racicot announced "the formation of a natural resources coalition ... to counter environmental groups' grass-roots effort to turn out anti-Bush voters" in Oregon, a swing state. "We believe President Bush has a very strong environmental record," said Racicot. The Superior Lumber Company president heads the coalition, which "includes several other people connected with the state's forestry industry as well as business people and legislators." Bush-Cheney's Oregon volunteer director, a pesticide industry lobbyist, said Bush's environmental policies have "given these people hope." But Greenpeace, an environmental group, is establishing a "forest rescue station" in southern Oregon. "This whole area is emblematic of some of the most important ancient forests left on public lands. This area is representative of the Bush rollback of environmental policies," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Celia Alario.