President keeps low profile on first day in KC.

Byline: Steve Kraske

KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ When you're the president, the world comes to you.

On Monday night in Kansas City, George W. Bush had all he needed at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center hotel: a borrowed treadmill sent to his 38th-floor suite from the gym and old friends over for dinner _ Kansas Gov. Bill Graves and his wife, Linda.

The Peppercorn Duck Club in the Hyatt Regency and the TWA overhaul base at the airport were about the only places Kansas Citians could spot the president Monday. Today he takes on a more public persona with a 9 a.m. speech before an invitation-only audience at Truman High School in Independence. His 25-minute address is expected to touch on the federal budget, Social Security and Medicare.

Monday night, the president's staff still was keeping secret one other stop on Bush's schedule between the Independence event and his 11 a.m. departure for his Texas ranch.

That Bush was hardly visible Monday in Kansas City came as no surprise to Woody Cozad, former chairman of the Missouri Republican Party. For 20 years, presidents have carefully gauged their public presentations, he said.

The White House is "saving him for the set-piece appearance at Truman High School," Cozad said. "This is standard operating procedure, and it's nothing new with President Bush. They prefer to have control of the environment in which presidents appear."