Bush to campaign in Indiana

President Bush is expected to promote his tax-cut plan during a speech at the Indiana State Fairgrounds coliseum on Tuesday.\nBush also will meet with a group of senior citizens during his stop in Indianapolis, said Luke Messer, executive director of the Indiana Republican Party.\nTickets will be needed to attend the fairgrounds event, Messer said, but other details of Bush's visit were not available.\nBush's Indiana stop is part of a cross-country trip to promote his tax-cut plan.\nBush will travel to Indianapolis Monday and remain overnight before returning to Washington.\n"I think it's just fantastic," Indiana GOP Chairman Jim Kittle said. "Obviously he is extremely popular ... and for him to be stopping here I think would be exciting for all Hoosiers on a non-partisan basis."\nBefore coming to Indianapolis, Bush will make stops in Albuquerque, N.M., and Omaha, Neb., after spending the weekend in Santa Fe, N.M., spokesman Ari Fleischer said.\nIn Albuquerque, the president will meet with small business owners Monday and give a speech on his plan. Later that day, he will fly to Omaha for a meeting with families and another speech.\nAt each of the stops, "The president will focus on different components" of the plan, Fleischer said.\nThe Bush trip to Indianapolis was announced the day after White House budget director Mitch Daniels said he would step down, amid expectations that he will run for Indiana governor next year.\nBush's only previous trips to Indiana since he became president were two brief stops in South Bend last fall to campaign for Chris Chocola, a Republican who was elected to Congress in the state's 2nd District.\nIndiana members of the Fair Taxes for All Coalition, which opposes the president's proposal, were considering holding a rally in conjunction with Bush's trip, group spokeswoman Valerie Martin said.\nCoalition members, including several labor unions and senior citizens groups, believe that Bush's tax plan would create few new jobs because of increased federal deficits and hurt health care and other programs, she said.\n"Clearly his message isn't resonating in the country, and in Congress he clearly isn't getting the numbers he is wanting," Martin said. "He is trying to reach out to the people and go over the head of the Congress, but in my opinion that isn't going to work."\nBush originally sought $726 billion in tax cuts over 10 years, including the elimination of taxes on stock dividends, a speed up of reductions in individual tax rates and an increase in child credits.\nBut the GOP-led Congress cut the overall price tag of the package, with the House reducing it to $550 billion and the Senate insisting on no more than $350 billion.