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Monday, Aug. 16, 2004

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  The son apparently did not want to repeat history. Even before Hurricane Charley struck, the second Bush White House was poised to act. Hours after Hurricane Charley made landfall, federal aid was flowing.

As emergency crews and National Guard troops swooped in to help residents across the state, Floridians were showered with promises, assurances and lists of toll-free numbers they could call for help, according to a story in the LA Times.

"While this is a day of complete devastation and real tragedy, and there's a lot of sadness in people's hearts right now, I'm absolutely convinced that, in a shorter period of time than we experienced in Hurricane Andrew, people's hopes will be lifted," Gov. Bush said.

The state's lieutenant governor, Toni Jennings, a Republican and a former state senator from Orlando, addressed reporters in her hometown. "We were better prepared than we've ever been before," she said.

Although Andrew was at the time the largest natural disaster to hit the country, Hurricane Charley was in many ways more of a political challenge.

"This cut through a lot of good Republican turf, and then I-4 — that's a lot of swing voters," said David Johnson, a Florida GOP consultant and former executive director of the state party. "They have to respond properly. The only problem that can happen here is if it was said or suggested that FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] wasn't doing their job. That's not going to happen this time."

Early Saturday, as crews were still surveying damage, Gov. Bush told reporters that they might see a modern-day cavalry of sorts on nearby interstate highways.

"My guess is that if people were on I-75 right now, they would see a phalanx of trucks and military support," the governor said, promising that water, food, tents, electrical repair trucks and debris-removal teams were on the way.

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