Bush, La. governor tour Hurricane Katrina relief centers

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Like estranged in-laws at a holiday gathering, President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco kept their distance as both toured a relief center for storm victims Monday. At their next stop, the Republican president kissed the Democratic governor on the cheek, but it wasn't clear whether they had made up.\nState and federal officials are all facing public criticism for a slow response to the Katrina crisis. Behind the scenes, each suggests the other is to blame.\nIn front of the cameras during Bush's visit to the Gulf Coast states Monday, the president and Blanco said little to each other, focusing instead on thanking relief workers.\n"I know I don't need to make any other introduction other than 'Mr. President,'" Blanco said tersely, turning the microphone over to Bush after praising emergency management officials during a stop with Bush at an emergency operations center.\n"This is one of these disasters that will test our soul and test our spirit, but we're going to show the world once again that not only can we survive but we will be stronger and better for it," Bush said after taking the microphone.\nBush echoed Blanco's praise for rescue workers. \n"I hope that makes you feel good to know you have saved lives," he said, promising state, local and federal officials that he would fix anything that isn't going right. "This is just the beginning of a huge effort."\nThe president, looking choked up as he finished his brief remarks, nodded at Blanco and kissed her on the cheek. She nodded back and both left the podium, headed for separate spots in the crowd.\nBlanco has refused to sign over control of the National Guard to the federal government and has turned to a Clinton administration official, former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt, to help run relief efforts.\nBlanco was not told when Bush would visit the state, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him. Blanco's office didn't know Bush was coming until told by reporters. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House reached out to Blanco's office Sunday, but didn't hear back. White House staff in Louisiana spoke with Blanco early Monday, he said.\nMaking his third visit to the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged states, the president stopped first at the Bethany World Prayer Center, a huge hall half covered with pallets and half filled with dining tables. Blanco visited at the same time, but she and Bush kept apart as they walked around talking to people.\nDuring his stop at Bethany, several people ran up to meet Bush and get autographs as he and first lady Laura Bush wandered around the room. But just as many hung back and looked on.\n"I need answers," said Mildred Brown, who has been there since Tuesday with her husband, mother-in-law and cousin. "I'm not interested in handshaking. I'm not interested in photo ops. This is going to take a lot of money."\nA week after the storm, a definitive death toll remained elusive. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin warned on NBC's "Today" that "it wouldn't be unreasonable to have 10,000" dead.\nDespite the grim estimate, he was more upbeat than in previous days, when he railed against the federal government and broke down sobbing during a radio interview.\n"We're making great progress now, the momentum has picked up. I'm starting to see some critical tasks being completed," he told NBC. "The 17th Street canal is about, or was about, 84 percent closed in yesterday afternoon. We have more troops arriving, so we're starting to make the kind of progress that I kind of expected earlier."\nBush hasn't gone a day without a public event devoted to the storm and its aftermath. But none of those trips so far, nor appearances by several Cabinet members in the region, has quieted complaints that Washington's response to the disaster has been sluggish. Congress already plans hearings on the response.\nIt took several days for food and water to reach the tens of thousands of desperate New Orleans residents who took shelter in the increasingly squalid and deadly Superdome and city convention center. Outlying areas suffered some of the same problems.\nAt least 155,000 people have been evacuated from the stricken areas, most of them now housed in some 560 shelters. More than 60,000 civilian and military personnel are assisting.\nHundreds of federal health officers and nearly 100 tons of medical supplies were sent to try to head off disease, feared because of hot weather, mosquitoes and standing water holding human waste, corpses and other contaminants.\nElsewhere in Louisiana, miles-long lines of vehicles crawled into suburban Jefferson Parish Monday as residents were allowed to return to salvage what was left of their homes.\nA curfew was set for 6 p.m. \nAssociated Press reporter Doug Simpson contributed to this report from \nMetairie, La.