Capito & Bush

Covering her Thursday speech to the Martinsburg Rotary Club, the Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md., included this in its article:

While answering questions from Rotarians, Capito appeared to put some distance between herself and President Bush.

"I think he's had a difficult hand dealt to him," said Capito, adding that history would judge whether the president's decisions on Iraq were right.

"If I had any criticism of the president, ... I think it's the perception - real or otherwise - that he's too stubborn," Capito said.

Capito also noted that she didn't think the president was the best communicator of his policies or initiatives.

When asked about the departure of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Capito said Bush's former Cabinet member should have left earlier and probably would be an Achilles' heel for the president's legacy.

One of Capito's would-be Democratic opponents, Anne Barth, was also in the Eastern Panhandle this week. A former longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., Barth held campaign events in Shepherdstown and Martinsburg, The Journal reports.