Bush's Social Security tour having little impact

The main reason, of course, for the Bush Social Security tour is to garner the support of the public. This, in theory, would get them to apply pressure to local politicans up for reelection and get them on board with the privatization train.

So far, the train is still stuck in the station:

Those who have been targeted by Bush's visits say so far they aren't feeling the heat. Last week, Bush tried to woo the backing of several Democratic lawmakers in a tour of five states that he won last fall.

But staff for several of those senators said they haven't seen any increase in calls of support for Bush's ideas. Bryan Gulley, spokesman for Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, said they've seen the opposite -- more people have been calling in against private accounts, perhaps because of newspaper ads opposing his plan that the AARP bought to coincide with Bush's visits.

Chris Thorne, spokesman for Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said there hadn't been any upswing in calls to the senator's office, although there was some response to Bush's visit -- editorials in some North Dakota newspapers praised Conrad for standing firm against the president.

If anything, the stops are having the opposite effect, bringing out praise for those who stand in the way of a bad idea. Things just keep getting worse and worse for President Bush.