Chen kicks off campaign with cross-country tour

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) embarks on his nationwide campaign today with the aim of boosting the prospects of DPP candidates, especially those who now face uphill struggles.

His first stop is Taichung, where he will campaign for the DPP's Taichung City mayoral candidate Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) tonight.

"President Chen will be our party's superstar during the election campaign," said DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁). "So we need his support in key constituencies and expect his attendance at the party's major campaign rallies."

The president attended the opening ceremony of DPP Tainan County Commissioner candidate Su Huan-chih's (蘇煥智) campaign headquarters on Sept. 30, after holding a wedding banquet for relatives and friends of his daughter and son-in-law.

A close aide, who is in charge of arranging the president's schedule, said that Chen had promised to attend campaign events in Taichung City, Hualien County and Taoyuan County. DPP candidates will need all the support they can get to defeat their rivals in those areas, the aide said.

In addition, Chen has agreed to attend the DPP's National Delegation Congress on Oct. 20 and another big rally in Taipei, which is still to be arranged.

"Basically, it should not be difficult to retain our current 11 local administration chiefs [county commissioners and city mayors]," said a DPP Public Poll Center official.

"According to data from the polls, although we face a tough fight in Taoyuan County and Hsinchu City, we stand a good chance of winning in Changhua County and Nantou County," the official added.

Some of the major concerns surrounding president's campaign, according to DPP Central Headquarters, is whether Chen's involvement in the rough and tumble of the election campaign will affect the party's ability to form alliances with other parties once the election is over.

"The other concern is that the Presidential Office must carefully arrange the schedule to avoid criticism from the opposition alliance that it is abusing the government's resources for the ruling party's own good," said DPP Legislative Yuan caucus leader Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯).

During the weekly meeting of the president's nine-member policy-making task force on Tuesday night, the president said that he was not worried that his involvement in the election campaign could have a negative affect on cooperation efforts with opposition politicians after the year-end election.

"President Chen said that only when the DPP has won the election will it have the opportunity to talk about cooperation after the election; so he is willing to campaign for those crucial constituencies," Tsai said.