WASHINGTON — George W. Bush ran for the White House as a Washington outsider, and he seems determined to remain one.
He has spent about a third of his days as president outside the nation's capital, barnstorming the country as he promotes his tax-cut proposals and his plans for schools and the military.
Bush has visited 22 states since taking office Jan. 20, reveling in contact with crowds outside the Beltway, far outpacing his predecessors — and playing political hardball.
Publicly, his aides say Bush is simply "talking to the American people" about his agenda.
But they readily acknowledge in private his tour is as every bit as political as his presidential campaign itself was.
His destinations are targeted to advance his tax-cut plans. With the Senate split 50-50, Bush has chosen states with Democratic senators who might be swayed to his side.
He has swooped into states where Democrats face re-election next year and where he enjoyed strong support in November.
Such targets have included Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Max Cleland, D-Ga. and Max Baucus, D-Mont. Each represents a conservative-leaning state that Bush won, and each is up for re-election next year.
Bush stocks crowds with enthusiastic backers by distributing tickets through local Republican Party organizations and chambers of commerce. The cheering, flag-waving crowds make for appealing TV news images and paint a picture of momentum.
He has traveled heavily to "swing" states he won and will need to capture again in 2004, mostly in the South and Midwest. He has yet to visit the West Coast, and he has not stumped in the three most populous states — California, Texas and New York.
Conversely, the Rocky Mountain states are so solidly Republican that there are few Democratic lawmakers for him to pressure, so he has set foot there just once.
Bush is following in the footsteps of other modern presidents who have chosen to take their crusades to the public rather than hunker down in Washington to haggle with lawmakers.
So far, he has outpaced both his father and Bill Clinton in travel. Bush has spent about 24 days away from the White House. Former President George Bush had spent about 17 days on the road at this point in his first term, and Clinton about a dozen.
"He is exercising leadership through public relations rather than exclusively through bargaining," said Samuel Kernell, a scholar on the presidency at the University of California, San Diego.
The approach has two potential payoffs, said Kernell, author of "Going Public," a book on presidential leadership.
"He shows leadership in redirecting Washington, and if he's made a correct calculation and can persuade these fence-sitting senators, he gets to take all his marbles with him — he doesn't have to give up anything," Kernell said.
Even when he is not on his campaign trail, Bush tends to bolt the White House for less confining environs.
He often retreats to Camp David on Friday afternoons, and he has spent two weekends at his Texas ranch. Another ranch stay is planned for Easter weekend.
Bush's frenetic travel defies his image as a homebody. Yet it satisfies his craving for connections outside Washington.
"It is important to make sure you get outside the D.C. scene and listen to the people," Bush said March 9 in Fargo, N.D., drawing a roar of approval. "I'll tell you, I love traveling our country."
He is becoming more open about his view of the news media as a barrier between him and the citizenry.
"Sometimes the word coming out of Washington gets filtered," Bush said last week in Billings, Mont. "Sometimes it's hard to get a direct message to the people. So I found the best way to get the message out is to travel the country."
For all the miles Bush is putting on Air Force One, he has tailored his trips so they do not exhaust him.
Stops in Chicago, East Brunswick, N.J. and Fort Stewart, Ga., were day trips that allowed him to sleep at home.
But longer swings, like his recent blitz through the Dakotas, Louisiana and Florida, have left staffers bleary-eyed. The president always arrives at his sleepover destination in the early evening, but the entourage works late and often begins moving before dawn.
Adding to the campaign-trail air, Bush has recently flown the reporters who follow him aboard the same plane he used during the campaign — a "Miami Air" charter.
With an itinerary that is rapidly filling up through the summer, Bush is trying to ensure he does not become a creature of Washington.
This week he visits Delaware and Wisconsin.
Starting next month, he will begin a round of foreign trips: Quebec in April, Sweden and Belgium in June, Italy in July, likely China in October.