By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: February 23, 2004
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 — President Bush's re-election campaign will begin running television commercials on March 4, even if the Democrats have not yet settled on a nominee, Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager, said on Sunday.
The commercials, along with a speech aimed directly at his opponents that Mr. Bush is to deliver to Republican governors in Washington on Monday, represent what Bush-Cheney officials described as an aggressive new phase for a campaign that has so far spent 2004 raising money and hanging back while the Democrats settle on a nominee.
Mr. Bush's campaign managers had expected to wait until the spring or summer before beginning a more active phase of the campaign. But the continuing attacks by Democrats on Mr. Bush's record, along with the president's drop behind Senators John Kerry and John Edwards in recent opinion polls, led them to change the plan.
One campaign official described Mr. Bush as eager to plunge into campaigning.
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