With the 2002 midterm elections little more than a year away,
President George W. Bush plans to improve his sagging approval
ratings among women voters by proposing a nationwide federally
funded “Ladies’ Nite.”    

THE NIGHT, or “nite” as it is spelled in White House memos
detailing the proposal, would take place on Wednesdays in bars
across the country and would offer rebates to women voters in
the form of free beverages and bar snacks.

Confronted with poor poll numbers among women voters, Bush
huddled with Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, who helped him develop the “Ladies’ Nite” plan.

In addition to free drinks and snacks, the Wednesday-night rebate
program will include a variety of contests in which women voters
will be invited to “strut their stuff” for additional prizes,
according to one insider.

“Basically, it’s a good way to remind women voters that the
president cares about them and to take their minds off of all of
the oil drilling and coal burning he wants to do,” the insider says.

Some in the Bush administration have criticized the plan for being
out of touch with the real concerns of women voters, arguing that
only middle-aged white men were involved in devising the program.
Others, however, dispute this contention. “It’s not just a bunch of
guys who were behind this,” says the insider. “Jenna and Barbara
were very involved, too.”