Bush's daughters enters into campaign
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-15 15:31

US President George W. Bush's two daughters made a glamorous entrance into their father's reelection campaign by posing in fashion gowns for Vogue magazine, to which they also gave their first lengthy interview.

U.S. President George W. Bush and daughter, Barbara, walk from Marine One towards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, July 13, 2004. The president is campaigning all-day in the Midwest battleground states of Michigan and Minnesota, and will spend tomorrow campaigning by bus in Wisconsin. [Reuters]

"I love my dad, and I think I'd regret it if I didn't do this," Jenna said in the interview published in the August issue of Vogue, explaining her participation in her father's campaign.

"It's not like he called me up and asked me," she continued. "They've never wanted to throw us into that world, and I think our decision probably shocked them."

The 22-year-old twins posed in classic ball gowns before famed French photographer, Patrick Demarchelier.

The blonde Jenna wears a red dress by Oscar de la Renta while Barbara is clad in an ivory gown by Calvin Klein.

In recent days, each of the sisters appeared by the side of their father at campaign events in an effort to ensure his re-election.

On Tuesday, the brown-haired Barbara accompanied the president to Michigan and Minnesota. Jenna went with Bush to Pennsylvania last Friday.

So far, their presence has been discrete. They had no speaking engagements and limited themselves to applauding while listening to their father's speeches.

The sisters insist they are not interested in politics.

"I'm just not political," Jenna said. "I have opinions, but there's nothing about the process that has ever interested me."

She claims to be interested to be part of the campaign.

"I think it will be great to do the campaign for several months where I'll work really hard and meet tonnes of people," she observed. "I think it will help prepare me for the next phase of my life."

Before joining the Bush campaign, whose headquarters is based in Arlington, Jenna and Barbara spent their vacations with friends in Europe.

Barbara went to Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Prague while Jenna went to Spain.

The twins have already graduated from universities. Jenna studied literature at the University of Texas and wants to pursue a career in education. Barbara has a liberal arts degree from prestigious Yale University and intends to fight AIDS in Africa and Eastern Europe.

U.S. President George W. Bush tastes frozen custard while his daughter, Barbara, follows behind after stopping at Leon's Frozen Custard in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin, July 14, 2004. On a bus tour through the rolling farmland of Wisconsin, a state he narrowly lost in 2000, Bush used a large part of his campaign speeches Wednesday to defend his decision to invade Iraq despite intelligence mistakes outlined in a Senate report last week. [Reuters]

However, the first daughters don't want their choice of careers to be used during the election campaign.

"We thought it would be better to wait until after November," Barbara said.

Asked by the magazine, President Bush said that "the thing I'm most excited about is that I get to spend the last campaign of my life with two girls I love."

In the interview, the daughters disclosed that they like to drink soy lattes at Starbucks and eat at sushi restaurants.

Jenna said that her father has a great sense of humor and is very entertaining with their friends.

Jenna is extroverted while Barbara is calm. "Jenna is like her father and Barbara is like her mother," Regan Gammon, a family friend told the magazine. "I think that's apparent to anybody who meets them."

The president's daughters have generally been shielded from the limelight for three years and a half after the White Housed asked media organizations to respect their privacy.

However, they made the papers in 2001 after being caught drinking alcohol when they were still under 21, the legal drinking age.

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