U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, led a “W is for Women” rally Friday at the Veterans Park next to the Androscoggin River.

Speaking to about 50 Bush-Cheney supporters, Snowe said the election is about a choice “between a record of proven leadership and a record of rhetoric. We’re in some very difficult times . . . we now need George W. Bush more than ever,” she said to applause and cheers.

All issues are important to women, “but what could be more paramount than security, than the issues concerning working families where the president has stood tall and strong.”

The message that must get out to voters is they’re living in an era of threat “where our enemies do not make a distinction between the battlefield and our back yards,” Snowe said. How one senator, who is one of 100, votes may not make a difference, but that’s not the same for the president. She praised Bush for lowering taxes, increasing funding for education, and enacting a Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Heather Bilodeau, a senior at Lewiston High School who recently formed a club for Republican students, introduced Snowe.

The rally was part of a day-long bus tour that began in Biddeford and ended in Fairfield.

Card: Bush man of faith’

Andrew Card, chief of staff to President Bush, said last week that Bush is a deeply religious man, but he doesn’t let that dictate his policy decision making process while at the White House.

Card offered the explanation during a Wednesday meeting with reporters and editors at the Sun Journal during a trip to Maine where he has a home in Poland. A recent published report suggested Bush often acted on faith and in isolation when called upon to make public policy judgements.

“He is a man of faith. He’s a man who reflects with prayer every day,” Card said of Bush.

But when it comes to everyday decisions that affect the country, Bush takes a pragmatic approach, which includes seeking advice from trusted members of his Cabinet, Card said.

Bush is disciplined about “doing his homework” and learning everything he can about a subject before concluding the best course of action.

“He makes the decisions in a capacity where he is very, very prepared,” Card said.

A longtime friend of the president, Card joked, “I remember when most of his discipline came from his mother.”

General: New boss needed

While campaigning for John Kerry in Lewiston on Wednesday, a retired four-star general said Iraq can’t be brought under control with the current forces there, that Iraq is destroying the Army.

To gain control in Iraq, 500,000 troops are needed, far more than the current 130,000, said General Merrill “Tony” McPeak, who headed the U.S. Air Force during Desert Storm and who was on the Joint Chiefs of Staff under then-President George H.W. Bush. “They will never get control of the situation in Iraq with a force of 130,000. It can’t be done. So we have a force that’s too small to do the job, too big to be sustained. It’s wrecking our Army. The Army that comes out of Iraq will be much different than the Army that went in. It’ll be weak.” That goes for U.S. Army Reserve and Guard forces, as well, he said.

A former Republican and now an independent, McPeak said he supported President Bush in 2000, but he’s angry about how Bush has “bungled” things. The administration “created a situation, which the intelligence gave them the answer they wanted about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam Hussein’s connection to Osama bin Laden,” McPeak said. “We need to get a new boss.”

By Staff Writers Bonnie Washuk and Christopher Williams