Bush and Cheney on the Campaign Trail

— -- ABCNEWS' Karen Travers reports on the campaign to re-elect the president and the vice president. Scroll down to read more.

Let the Games Begin

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 23 — Bush-Cheney '04 officials said Monday would mark a new period of engagement from the campaign and the president, and at the end of the day it was clear that any plans to stay above the political fray until the Democratic nominee emerged had been scrapped.

President Bush made his first move in the 2004 campaign season in a speech to the Republican Governors Association and said, "We'll leave no doubt where we stand. And we will win our second term in November."

On a day that featured two BC04 conference calls, inquiries about buying ad time, and fundraising travel by the Vice President to two Midwestern states, the president laid out the key themes for his campaign: winning the war on terror and continuing the economic recovery and increasing prosperity

Before the RGA, Bush highlighted his administration's "record of historic achievement," and Noted that over three years, he has worked to improve and increase homeland security, toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and addressed issues on the homefront such as education, Medicare reform and tax cuts.

And though he did not mention his opponents' names, President Bush took his first jab at Senator Kerry, getting a good laugh from the audience by painting Kerry as a politician with changing opinions.

"The other party's nomination battle is still playing out. The candidates are an interesting group with diverse opinions: for tax cuts and against them; for NAFTA and against NAFTA; for the Patriot and against the Patriot Act; in favor of liberating Iraq and opposed to it.

"And that's just one senator from Massachusetts."

The president even hinted at some of the inside the Beltway rumors on Vice President Cheney remaining on the ticket and assured the audience that he was sticking with his current #2.

"Vice President Dick Cheney spent the day campaigning in Minneapolis and Wichita. But he's recently completed another important assignment. Once again, I put him in charge of my vice presidential search committee," President Bush said. "He tells me he's reviewed all the candidates. And he's come back with the same recommendation as last time."