WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House asked the media on Monday to "show respect" for President Bush's twin daughters as they emerge from private life as students to work for their father's re-election campaign.

There has sometimes been tension between Bush and the media over coverage of his daughters, Jenna and Barbara, especially when both of them had run-ins with the law over alcohol three years ago.

 

In an incident in Austin, Texas, in 2001, Barbara was sentenced to perform community service and attend an alcohol awareness class, while Jenna, who had been found with a false ID, was fine $600 and lost her driver's license for 30 days.

 

"We hope that the media will continue to show respect for the daughters and allow them to go about their lives,... and recognize that they are the president's daughters," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. ADVERTISEMENT

 

The request came as the daughters, who are now 22 and have graduated from university, are themselves generating more media coverage.

 

They will do an interview and photo spread for Vogue magazine and then work at Bush's campaign headquarters in the Washington suburbs.

"The daughters have ... expressed a strong interest in helping the president on his reelection. And I know that the president very much appreciates that," McClellan said.

Once they posed for a magazine feature and decided to work in a political campaign, I do not see how the media should treat them as private citizens, you can't have it both ways. I see them more as celebrity types.

I can see a drunk joke comin along on this thread very soon.