As state chairwomen of the “W Stands for Women Coalition,” we were delighted with the response that Laura Bush received during her visit. Bringing Mrs. Bush to Lewiston was based on campaign strategy. We wanted Maine women, indeed Democrats, to hear from the person who knows our president best.

We’d like to set the record straight. The Sun Journal suggested that only Republicans were allowed to attend the rally. This was reported even after the paper included comments made by a campaign spokesperson stating “Laura Bush will campaign for her Republican husband in what is a Democratic town. Lewiston has more registered Democrats than Republicans. The city was chosen for this rally because the campaign wants to make its case to all Maine voters.”

These points were neglected in later coverage.

Turning Democrats away would have defeated the purpose of holding the event in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans. The current mayor, former mayor, at least one current Democrat state representative, former Democratic legislator and other Democratic dignitaries were in attendance. There were several Democrats on the stage with Mrs. Bush during this campaign rally. Nearly 30 percent of the audience were Democrats and independents, according to our post-event review of the attendance list.

To suggest that only Republicans were allowed to attend Mrs. Bush’s speech is false. There is no truth to the claim that Democrats were discouraged from attending. Not a single Democrat was refused a ticket based on party enrollment.

Jan Staples, Cape Elizabeth, and Janet Bowne, Falmouth