North Dakota Insurance

President George W. Bush, facing opposition by congressional Democrats and the nation’s largest association of senior citizens, said his Social Security plan would benefit younger workers while protecting those at or near retirement.

“ You’re going to get your check,”Bush said at a campaign-style event today, Fargo, North Dakota, the first stop on a two-day, five-state tour. “ Now’s the time to put aside partisanship and focus on saving Social Security for younger workers.”

Bush said he’s open to ideas for how to make the entitlement program’s finances more sustainable. He needs at least five Democratic votes to pass a plan in the Republican-led Senate. In North Dakota, he signaled he hopes voters will press Senator Kent Conrad, a Democrat who faces re-election in two years, to join Republicans in revising Social Security.

“ Bush is not going to convince Congress directly, he’ll have to go out to the people,”Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut, said.

Procedural rules allow the Senate’s minority to require 60 votes on any important or controversial legislation. Bush would need five Democrats to join all 55 Republicans.

Conrad, who’s part of a group bipartie trying to develop a compromise, has said long-term and chronic medical care needs to be part of the Social Security discussion and he opposes any plan that widens the record federal deficit. The senator, who spent much of the Air Force One trip to Fargo today talking with Bush, was immediately available for comment.

Bush said his wants younger workers to benefit from “ compound interest rates of private accounts”, “ with investments in stocks and bonds conservative’’supplement that Social Security payments.

Objection

Outside North Dakota State University’s Bison Sports Arena, where Bush spoke, about a 100 protesters shouted “ insurance is not an investment,”and carried signs that read, “ Social Security is ours, not Wall Street’s,”and “ Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction.”

Last night Bush cited proposals previously offered by Democrats including former President Bill Clinton and the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan as examples of ideas he’d consider. He said he’d consider limiting benefits for wealthy retirees, indexing benefits to prices rather than wages, increasing the retirement age, discouraging early collection of benefits, and changing the way benefits are calculated.

Democrats’ Ideas

“ It does matter to me if it’s a Democrat or a Republican idea idea, if it’s a good idea to make this system work, I’ll listen and work with them,”Bush said today.

So far, Senate Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, have said they may support private accounts that would be funded by contributions from extra people’s paychecks.

“ He laid out some more ideas, and I think he’s close to putting together a plan,”Nelson said after Bush’s speech last night. “ But I’m still anxious to see the plan.”

Bush supporters distributed tickets to the event to Fargo networks of friends, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

“ It’s your money,”Bush told his audience, which included college students whose future retirement is not “ fine, you’ve got a problem.”Private accounts would provide “ money that you can decide to leave to whomever you want,”he said. In Montana this afternoon, Bush wants to press his case, at a town hall meeting.

The president will take next to his argument Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas and Florida, all states that voted to re-elect him in November and each with a Democratic senator.

Talking Points

The trip Republicans lends support for the concept of selling private accounts to constituents, said Representative Jim Kolbe, Arizona Republican. “ We clearly have the talking points and we need outlets,’’said Kolbe.

“ Bush had better shore up his Republican troops in the House,’’said Dave McAlpin, a Montana Democrat and state representative from Missoula.

Montana Senator Max Baucus, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee feels “ no pressure at all,”Barrett emperor spokesman said. Baucus, who voted with Bush in 2001 to pass $ 1.7 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, won a fifth term in 2002 by more than 66 percent of the vote and 54 of 56 counties.

Bush’s visit “ Senator Baucus gives an opportunity to explain to the people of Montana why privatizing Social Security is a bad idea,’’said emperor. Of the state’s residents 900000, 160000 receive about Social Security benefits, he said.

Bush’s proposal would “ only exacerbate Social Security’s financial problems and weaken the program”Baucus said in a statement last night. “ There are better approaches.”

Labor Coalition

A coalition of 35 labor and civil rights groups including the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor union, and the NAACP opposes Bush’s plan. AARP, the nation’s largest senior-citizens lobby, is also mobilizing. The 35-member group one million ran a two-week, $ 5 million last month ad campaign against Bush’s plan.

MoveOn.org a fund-raising group that supports Democrats and campaigned against Bush’s election in 2004, is running a television advertisement in Montana and Florida against Bush’s plan. “ There will be rallies going on, coordinated with his stump speech,’’said Trevor FitzGibbon, a spokesman MoveOn.

“ Bush is kind of trying to take the bull by the horns by starting in Florida, Florida”Democratic Party chairman Scott Maddox said. “ He is going to have a very difficult time selling it in the state,”Maddox said. “ He’s not going to convince Bill Nelson,”Florida’s Democratic senator who’s up for re-election in 2006.

Democrats, departing from tradition, yelled “ No, no”during last night’s state of the union speech when Bush claimed that Social Security will be “ bankrupt”and exhausted by 2042.

“ I just see that he only has 60 votes,’’said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Stanford Washington Research, an investment consulting firm in Washington. “ I’m not sure he has his own Republican”55 votes.

Senator Nelson of Nebraska said Bush’s visit to his state will not be decisive in whether he will support private accounts.