Is it customary for the incumbent to campaign on the weekly radio address?

Just wondering. Reading what Bush said, it looks like the fed govt just paid for a campaign commercial. (do the feds pay for the weekly address?) Is that the standard practice? That doesn't seem right.

snip>
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush accused his Democratic rival of seeking to "paralyse America" by putting all US security decisions up to global scrutiny.

"In the middle of a war, Senator Kerry is proposing policies and doctrines that would weaken America and make the world more dangerous," he said.

"He's proposed the Kerry doctrine, which would paralyse America by subjecting our national security decisions to a global test."
..........
Bush, in his radio address, played up fears Kerry would allow greater foreign interference in US affairs.

"He supports the International Criminal Court, where unaccountable foreign prosecutors could put American troops on trial in front of foreign judges," said Bush.

Bush again sidestepped the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq which was highlighted by a new report released this week.
........
"I will keep this nation on the offensive against terrorists, with the goal of total victory," he added.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=696&e=3&u=/afp/20041009/pl_afp/us_vote_bush

...is a political tradition. The Dems get equal time. Who gave the Dem response this week? Kerry ought to do a few of them!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=3&u=/ap/20041009/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_congress

It just seemed different to see specific mention of Kerry. I hadn't noticed that before. In fact, this snip made me notice that Hoyer apparently didn't even mention DeLay by name:

snip>
In a reference to Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, he said Democrats "will not elect leaders who spend more time fending off ethics charges than they do tending to the people's business."

...is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. I expected your typical pol, but he was a nice, sweet, kind, humble guy. Very real and totally in touch with the world the rest of us live in. The type of guy who doesn't want favors, carries his own bags, asks how you are doing and listens to the answer.

He was a finalist for the minority leader job with Nancy Pelosi--I can see why it was a tough call, they are both superb at building consensus and ralllying their team.