Reply #8: this meeting was in MARCH

[rodeodance]

....That at-home meeting in March was one of dozens that Bush has held over the last three months to coax Republicans to set aside their qualms about his drive to overhaul Social Security. The lobbying effort — less visible than his high-profile 60-day campaign to promote his Social Security plan around the country — has had Bush more personally and deeply engaged with lawmakers than at any other time in his presidency.

That effort has brought more than 160 House and Senate Republicans to the White House in small groups, given many lawmakers face time with Bush aboard Air Force One and brought dozens to events where Bush has addressed their constituents on Social Security.

The lobbying drive has apparently done little to change minds and bump up the congressional vote count, but the White House says it never intended this stage of the campaign to be an arm-twisting enterprise.

Still, the fact that Bush has had to mount such a full-court press even within his own party is a measure of just how difficult a political task he faces — and how much the dynamic between the White House and Congress has changed in his second term.....