Attribution

ORLANDO, Fla., June 11 — Republican lawmakers from Florida are furious at the White House,
saying it bungled opportunities to cultivate a state that has a high-profile governor's race next year
and is vital for President Bush's electoral fortunes in 2004.

These Republicans said they feared that President Bush was jeopardizing his party's position in Florida
as resentment here over the disputed presidential election united and energized Democrats.

While Republicans cited many concerns, they said their frustration boiled over last week when Mr. Bush
traveled to the Everglades National Park. The White House did not invite major Republican lawmakers
who had for years championed legislation to protect the Everglades.

Instead, in the spirit of bipartisanship, Mr. Bush included the state's two Democratic senators,
Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, and a Democratic congressman from Florida, Peter Deutsch.

The event was designed to feature Mr. Bush as caring about the environment in a pivotal state.
But many Republicans complained that the message was overshadowed in the press by Democrats
on the trip who castigated the president for favoring oil drilling off the Florida coast.

Compounding the unease among some Republicans is that Democrats here have been relentless since
the election in staging events, running advertisements and laying the groundwork to try to unseat
the Republican governor, Jeb Bush, next year.

"It was a missed opportunity by the White House not to reach out properly," said Representative Mark Foley,
Republican of Florida, who has been a Bush loyalist. "If I worked at the White House, the sign above my desk
would say, `It's Florida, stupid,' and everything else should flow from there. They have to get their act together.
Jeb Bush's election is on the line — and you have 2004."

Mr. Foley said he was incredulous that the White House had included Mr. Deutsch, who had hammered away
at Mr. Bush during the Florida election stalemate.

"People would have to live on Mars to know that Peter Deutsch didn't spend 37 days in brass-knuckle brawling
with the man who would make him his special guest," Mr. Foley said. "It was curious that he would be the first
person you invited to an event."

A Bush loyalist who did attend the Everglades event, Representative E. Clay Shaw Jr., the chairman of the
Florida delegation, said: "When you look at the politics of it, the White House could have done a better job.
Their message could have been clearer.

"Florida is a tremendously important state not only because of the tremendous number of electoral votes that they
have but also because of the closeness of the last election and the fact that the president's brother is our governor."

And, Mr. Shaw said, some of his Republican colleagues who should have been included in Mr. Bush's traveling
entourage were overlooked. (Other Republicans were invited to accompany Mr. Bush, but only at the last minute.)

Some Republicans said they feared that the political missteps by the White House would allow Democrats
to make greater inroads in Florida and create strains in the party, which they said should now be fully focused
on the election for governor next year.

Echoing other Republicans who said the Clinton administration was far more skilled in reaching out to Florida,  Mr. Shaw said: "The best spinmeisters I've ever seen were in the Clinton White House. We're on a little bit of a learning curve."

Representative J. Porter Goss, Republican of Florida, who did not learn of the event until he saw it on television,
said that while he now defends the White House, his initial reaction was, "Holy smokes, why are you letting the
Democrats kick you in the teeth?"

Mr. Goss said he was actually invited to the Monday event on the previous Thursday, but he had been traveling
abroad and his staff never alerted him. But, he said: "The invitation came a little late — that's fair to say. If I had
known a little sooner I might have been able to rearrange my schedule."

Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser, and other officials have scrambled in the last week to apologize to
House members for how the trip was handled.

"I definitely called Karl to vent," Mr. Foley said.
"They know it's not some cry-baby delegation that didn't get involved in the trip."

And today, as word of the Republican complaints began to circulate widely, administration officials began calling
Republicans from Florida on Capitol Hill, setting up meetings and asking what more they could do to pay heed to the state.

"These trips are nightmarish to put together, and we apologize to the members involved because some mistakes were made," said Nicholas E. Calio, Mr. Bush's legislative director. "It's that simple."

Asked if the trip underscored other instances in which the White House had not been deft in Florida,
Mr. Calio said, "I think that extrapolation is tenuous."

White House officials said, in fact, that Florida was such a priority that they dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney to
the Disney Yacht and Beach Club Resorts here last weekend to address a dinner that amassed an estimated $2.5 million
for the state's Republican Party. And the Republican National Committee has hired Randy Enwright, a Florida operative,
to tend to the state's political needs from Tallahassee. It is the only state where the party has assigned a full-time staff member.

"It's always good to be back in Florida," Mr. Cheney told the crowd in Orlando. "The state that made me an expert in
close elections." Surveying the ballroom of more than 1,000 partisans, he said, "It looks like we have the entire margin
of victory right here in this room."

Jack Oliver, the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview later:
"We're very focused on Florida. We're doing everything we can."

Still, Republican lawmakers and strategists said they had genuine concerns about the political nimbleness of the
White House. Mr. Foley said that at the start of the administration, Ken Mehlman, the White House political director,
and other officials approached him about organizing a "Florida working group" to make sure the state was a top priority.
Mr. Foley said no one followed through.

Mr. Mehlman insisted that the effort was under way. Disputing that the White House was neglecting Florida, he said:
"The president's been in Miami, Orlando, Panama City and Tampa. The vice president's been in Orlando.
And seven cabinet secretaries have made 13 trips to Florida."

Yet even Republicans at the Everglades event said they were stunned that the president had not credited House
members for their roles in protecting the region — and had not mentioned the recently retired Republican senator
from the state, Connie Mack, who was quite involved with the Everglades.

Several Republicans grumbled that the administration had fair warning because they complained that they had not
been invited to an event earlier this year in the Everglades with Christie Whitman, administrator of the EPA.

Mr. Foley said that top officials in the Clinton administration, like Carol Browner, the environmental administrator, and
Bruce Babbitt, the interior secretary, were far more aggressive about reaching out to him, even though he is a Republican.

"Babbitt would say, `Do you want to have dinner?' " Mr. Foley recalled.
"Carol Browner would call herself and say, `Do you want to go on an air boat?' "

While several Republicans questioned why the White House included Democrats at the event, they were
particularly critical of Mr. Deutsch, who represents the Everglades.

"The Democrats were invited because it was their district," said Mr. Calio,
"and I think the actions on some of their parts were classless."

People close to Mr. Deutsch said he was invited to travel on Air Force One with the president to Florida
only at the last minute — after his representatives pressed the White House to let him come along.

But Mr. Deutsch made no apologies for criticizing Mr. Bush. "This administration has a horrendous environmental record,"
he said. "I don't believe the American people are going to be convinced by these photo opportunities."

Many who attended the dinner here on Saturday said they had no big complaints about President Bush,
though they did express concern that offshore oil drilling could damage Republicans.

State Representative Johnnie Byrd said it was only natural that the party would want an even greater presence from Mr. Bush. "I don't think there's a governor in the country who wouldn't want the president to come every week," Mr. Byrd said.

Mindful, perhaps, that the president was not seen as having lavished sufficient praise on Representative Shaw at the
Everglades event, speakers went out of their way to pay homage to him here.

Al Cardenas, the state Republican chairman, singled out Mr. Shaw for "special recognition" as
"someone who fights so hard for Florida every day in Congress."

Mr. Cheney joined in as well, offering to "thank, especially, Clay and Emily Shaw."