WASHINGTON – The nation’s capital starts turning into Bush Country today.
President-elect George W. Bush is due to arrive in town at 5:45 p.m. today aboard a C-32 military jet, the equivalent of a Boeing 757, that aides joke will be a “Noah’s Ark” because it will be packed with pets.
Bush aides last night said President Clinton will fly on Air Force One when he and wife Hillary leave town after the inaugural Saturday to start their post-presidency lives in New York.
Clinton made Air Force One available to Bush’s dad in 1993.
Clinton will be out of town when Bush arrives today, making a final presidential visit to his home state of Arkansas.
“We’ll be hitting the ground running,” said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, who predicted the new president will make some moves soon after he takes office at noon Saturday.
Bush will arrive after a sendoff today in his hometown of Midland, Texas, and will move into Blair House, the official government guest house across from the White House, until he takes office.
The president-elect’s plane will carry new First Dog Spottie (an English springer spaniel and daughter of the late Millie, who was first dog when Bush’s dad was president), First Cat India and First Puppy Barney, a black Scottish terrier.
Bush senior adviser Karen Hughes’ dog and cat also will be on board.
On the eve of Bush’s arrival, his aides revealed he has asked CIA Director George Tenet, a Democrat and native New Yorker who was raised in Queens, to stay on for “an undetermined period of time.”
Fleischer said Tenet has agreed.
The arrangement apparently leaves open the prospect that Tenet could stay on permanently, adding another bipartisan touch to Team Bush.
Bush aides also said singer Van Morrison won’t perform Saturday because of a “scheduling conflict.” They said Latin heartthrob Ricky Martin will appear despite pressure from liberal activists to boycott the inaugural.
“Entertainers get incredible pressure not to do Republican events. But the inauguration is not a Republican event, it is an American event,” said inaugural spokesman Ed Gillespie.
The entertainment at the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania inaugural ball Saturday night at Union Station, one of eight balls, will feature singer Nell Carter and the Gene Donati orchestra.