Former Gov. Marc Racicot, back in town to visit relatives and dropping by for a chat with the IR's Editorial Board, looked relaxed in his casual vacationing clothes.

But the man who rose to national prominence defending President Bush's interests amid the hanging chads of Florida five years ago was anything but relaxed about his continuing defense of a president he thinks will be remembered as one of the best ever.

Racicot, who served two terms as Montana governor and was the state's attorney general before that, blamed Bush's drop in the polls on several factors: Having the "guts" to try to sell reform of Social Security to an unwilling public, a failure to keep up a forceful defense of the war in Iraq, and the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina.

Without support, there was little Bush could do about the fall of his Social Security agenda, Racicot said, but problems with the emergency response are being addressed and the president is back on track defending the war -- a war that "the American people know we have to win."

Bush is "focused like a laser" on being commander in chief, Racicot said.

Racicot called the current Jack Abramoff scandal an "incredibly rare" aberration, and said it is unfair that Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., is getting dragged into the resulting news stories. He said he is confident that Montanans know their whole congressional delegation well enough to reject any thought of wrongdoing on their part.

He also defended the 1997 electrical deregulation that many Montanans blame for subsequent price hikes. If he had it to do over, he'd still support it, Racicot said.

As usual, Racicot asserted he has no plans to run for another office, but he sounded ready and willing to help Republicans in Montana and elsewhere.

He said current GOP woes can be overcome, but that they're a significant wake-up call. The key, he said, is to "get back to being competent and relevant to the American people."