Bush was not hurt, and no shots were fired from or at the car, White
House spokesman Trent Duffy said. Bush left the arena shortly afterward
from an exit about 40 yards from the car. The president was in his
limousine at the time of the incident, a senior Bush administration said.
"There was a vehicle that did crash into the side of the building,"
Duffy said, although it was "not close" to the president's car.
"The president was never in any danger and is keeping with his
schedule," Duffy later told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush flew to
Paducah, Ky.
He declined to say whether Bush saw what happened or say what the
president's reaction was.
The woman was not immediately identified. A witness, Linda Neeley, 40,
a teacher from Horn Lake, Miss., said the children, all boys, were about
10 years old.
She and other witnesses said the woman drove a gray Toyota Camry
through a parking lot on same side of the DeSoto Civic Center as the
president's exit. The car jumped the curb, drove through a gate where
press buses had just left and into the side of the building near a loading
dock.
Police rushed the car immediately and dragged out the woman and
children. She was handcuffed and all three were taken away. Local law
enforcement officials detained the suspect, Duffy said.
The president's motorcade was still parked at the center, where Bush
had given the first of four campaign speeches scheduled for Saturday.
Fewer than five minutes after the incident, Bush's motorcade left for
his next stop, in Paducah.
Bush's day planner in the South included appearances in Desoto County
and Gulfport, two GOP strongholds on either end of Mississippi, to lend
support to former Republican National Committee (news
- web
sites) Chairman Haley Barbour, who is trying to unseat Democratic Gov.
Ronnie Musgrove.
"I'm proud to stand with this man," Bush said.
"He's proud of this state, and that's the kind of governor you need �
somebody who relates to people from all walks of life," said Bush, who was
greeted by supporters who chanted "Four more years! Four more years!"
Thousands of people jammed to the rafters the sports arena where the
rally was held. Along the front rows, audience members screamed their
support for Bush and Barbour through plexiglass boards left over from a
hockey game.
Barbour walked to the edge of the stage and said Bush was in
Mississippi to pay off an IOU, reminding the crowd � and Bush � that he
had supported Bush's gubernatorial campaigns and his presidential run in
2000.
Bush's Texas twang got thicker as he addressed the Mississippi crowd.
"He's reaching out," he said, talking about Barbour. "He understands
his job is to represent everybody when he gets to be the governor in three
days."
The president is fond of saying, "The political season will come in its
own time." Saturday seemed to usher it in officially: Bush's day of
campaigning, door-to-door, was be 13 1/2 hours.
In Kentucky, the president was to visit Paducah and London to lend
support to Rep. Ernie Fletcher, considered the Republicans' best chance in
years to capture governor's office it hasn't won since 1967.
Victory for both candidates on Tuesday would raise the number of
Republican governors to 29, including California Gov.-elect Arnold
Schwarzenegger (news
- web
sites), to the Democrats' 21.
Musgrove countered Bush's visit by promoting his candidacy in the
Democrats' weekly radio address Saturday.
"Our leaders need to vigorously go about the business of uplifting our
economy, creating jobs, improving education for our children, making
prescription drugs more affordable and fighting for our troops," the
Mississippi governor said.
"And they need to fight for these things as hard as they fight on the
campaign trail."
___
Associated Press Writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.
