For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
September 2, 2008

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the Michigan Delegation Breakfast
The Northland Inn
Brooklyn, Minnesota

8:28 A.M. CDT

MRS. BUSH: I wanted to drop by and say hello to you all, say hello to the Michigan delegation. I want to give you a lot of encouragement. I think Michigan can really be in play this time and John McCain -- (applause.) The McCain campaign is a very active -- and I know a lot of you are probably involved in it -- campaign going on in Michigan, and I think we have a really good chance of carrying Michigan. You know, President Bush and I worked really hard twice for it, and I think John McCain can carry Michigan. (Applause.)

So I want to urge you to work to redouble your efforts, to work as hard as you can to encourage everybody you know to vote for John McCain. Get people to register that aren't registered yet. I think he has a great message for the state of Michigan. I think he has a personality that appeals to the people of Michigan. I hope Sarah Palin will be a big help among Michigan -- (applause.)

I'm so excited about her candidacy. I think it was really very brilliant of John McCain to take her, and I'm so proud that I'm going to be able to vote for a Republican woman on this ticket. (Applause.)

I was in town, of course, because I was going to speak last night, give a little brief introduction to the President, who was going to speak last night. As we know, the -- as everyone knows, of course, we all watched the hurricane instead. And right now, today, it looks like it was not as damaging as we thought it could have been. We're still measuring, I guess, to see how bad the damage is, the flooding and the wind damage to a whole lot of the -- a big swath, actually, where Hurricane Gustav went. I think that was really the right thing for the Republican Party to do. I know delegates who've come from all over the country were disappointed that we didn't get to start the big party the very first night, but I think it was smart, and I know that people here, everybody here, understands and wants to pay attention to the Gulf Coast and wants to see what we can do to help the Gulf Coast.

Cindy McCain and I spoke yesterday -- you all would have seen us when we talked about the websites. "Greater Cause" is one of them -- greatercause.com* -- that people can get on to see what's needed across the Gulf Coast. And then each of the Gulf Coast governors have put up their own website. I'm sure they're texting those websites to you all in case you want a specific -- want to know a specific way to help a specific state.

But tonight I think we're going to get to go on with the real program. (Applause.) So I'm excited about that. We have some really good speakers planned for tonight, I think -- I mean, I think it's all still being planned out. But from what I understand, the President will come in by video, but I'll speak, and then I think we have Joe Lieberman and some other really good speakers that are going to be great for Senator McCain and for our ticket and for our party. His support, I think, is very important, because he's such a -- I know he's such a independent and a very, very strong American, strong patriotic American. And he can make the case for John McCain in a really great way, I think, and make an appeal to independents, who we want -- we want every single Michigan independent. (Applause.)

So I just wanted to make a brief stop-by and tell you all how important Michigan is to the McCain campaign. I want you to realize that. I want you to feel the pressure of it and go back home and work really hard, because Michigan can be the Ohio of this time -- you know, Michigan be a state that carries the ticket for us and carries the election for us.

So thank you all very much. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END 8:33 A.M. CDT

*Cause Greater - www.causegreater.com