President Bush. Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais /AP
by Mark Silva
ST. PAUL -- A certain name is fading into the background here at the Republican National Convention, a name that played prominently at the Democratic conventioon:
At Countdown to Crawford, our colleague Johanna Neuman has been keeping count. "Democrats made frequent use of the president's name from Denver,'' she notes.
On Tuesday, the first night of the Republican convention, the only mentions of the president's name -- five -- came from his wife, First Lady Laura Bush.
Then there was one: On Wednesday. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee all averted any mention of the president, his approval ratings somewhere around 30 percent.
"But to our surprise,'' Neuman notes, "there was one mention of the president, and it was favorable. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney credited Bush for labeling terrorist-sponsoring countries "the axis of evil."
By tonight, when Republican John McCain accepts the nomination, we're guessing the count may be evocative of the chant that Republican delegates were mouthing about Barack Obama on the floor last night -- "Zero, zero, zero, zero.''
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