Barbara (left) and Jenna Bush. (Reuters)

Las Vegas, May 19 (Reuters): President George W. Bush’s twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, will work for their father’s re-election campaign after they graduate from college this month, their mother, Laura Bush, said yesterday.

Jenna graduates this weekend from the University of Texas and Barbara graduates from Yale University. They are 22.

Their parents, while not attending graduation ceremonies to avoid the disruption, are flying to parties for family and friends in Austin, Texas, and New Haven, Connecticut.

“They are going to work on the campaign,” Laura Bush said in an interview.

She said they would probably work at campaign headquarters in the Washington suburbs but may go out a bit and campaign for their father, “if they have the confidence.”

She said the strain of losing US troops in war is “the hardest part of the job” for her and George W. Bush and she believes his drop in the polls was a direct result of events in Iraq.

The First Lady dismissed Democratic criticism that Bush has never attended a funeral for any of the US troops killed in Iraq. She said he has met many of the families of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I don’t know how they think the President would choose whose funeral to go to, and I also think they are trying to imply that the commander-in-chief doesn’t know or care. I can assure you nobody knows or cares more (about the casualties) than the President,” she said.

Laura Bush spoke aboard her plane as she began a two-day campaign swing through South Dakota, Nevada, Oregon and California. She headlined her first campaign rally in Las Vegas on behalf of the President. About 1,000 people filled an auditorium to hear her, and Laura was introduced by Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton.