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| CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT: G. W. BUSH | |
 September 30, 1999 
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Margaret Warner and David Balz, of The Washington Post, analyze Republican front runner George W. Bush's presidential campaign race.
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MARGARET WARNER: California sends more delegates to the Republican Convention than any other state, one fifth of all delegates needed to win the presidential nomination. And Texas Gov. George W. Bush was busy campaigning there this week. He began the day in Bakersfield, at a $25-a-head fundraising breakfast which drew 1,000 people to the Convention Center.
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| G.W.Bush on the campaign trail | ||||||||||||||||||||
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GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm asking the students, I'll visit with you in a second. I've got a dog named Spot. You know why they call, guess why they dog's named Spot? That's exactly the right answer, cause he's got a spot on him. We have three cats, too. One cat's named Cowboy. One cat's named Willie. And there's another cat named Ernie. MARGARET WARNER: One child asked Bush what he would do for education, as President. GEORGE W. BUSH: The only way to make sure that every child gets the kind of education we want is for us to measure and know, and so I'm going to work with the states to develop accountability, notice I say work with the states. I don't think there ought to be a national test.
GEORGE W. BUSH: I know I'm just the warm-up act to Warren Beatty, but I'll give it my best shot. |
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| Understanding the Republican divide | ||||||||||||||||||||
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MARGARET WARNER: He took questions on education, defense and taxes including one on what to do with the budget surplus. GEORGE W.BUSH: I felt like the idea of the current Congress's plan to, to send 25 percent of projected surpluses back was a reasonable amount of money; that we could, that we could lock box Social Security, meet basic needs and that 25 percent of the budget surplus going back was fair and reasonable. SPOKESMAN: Some of your supporters are saying that they're teaming up Perot and Buchanan to balance you. Do you think it's because of bad blood in the family? GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, it's hard for me to tell; I hope not. I hope that, I hope that people enter the political process with what's best, what's best for the country in mind and not, not be making decisions based on personal vendettas. I've always thought in the 1992 campaign it was hard for my dad to get traction in the race because of the -- first Patrick J. Buchanan and then Ross Perot inflicted a series of, of cuts. If the adage it true, you die a death of a thousands cuts in politics, Ross Perot was a part of inflicting a part of the thousands cuts. MARGARET WARNER: Bush was pressed on Buchanan's controversial views, expressed in his newly released book. GEORGE W. BUSH: I think that -- I think obviously his, his kind of revisionist history about World War II is, is wrong. I'd like to see him stay in the primary. I'd like to whip him in the primary. MARGARET WARNER: But Bush took pains not to alienate Buchanan's supporters. GEORGE W. BUSH: If he goes, he's gone. I understand that. But the question is will his, some of the people who support Pat Buchanan who are loyal Republicans stay with the Republican nominee? And I think whoever the nominee is, is going to have to work hard to unite the party. MARGARET WARNER: Bush is campaigning in Northern California today and travels to Washington tomorrow for a Christian Coalition Convention. |
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| An orchestrated campaign? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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MARGARET WARNER: For more, we turn to Dan Balz of the Washington Post. The NewsHour's working with the Post in covering the 2000 presidential race. As you just saw, Dan was traveling with Bush this week in California, and he joins us tonight from the Post's newsroom. MARGARET WARNER: Dan, was that a typical day, I mean, a great big great crowd, very photographic -- photogenic events?
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| A fund raising phenomenon | ||||||||||||||||||||
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DAN BALZ: Margaret, it's almost hard to but the it in perspective. I think if you stacked all of George W. Bush money in one pile it would smoother all of his opponents combined and in fact that's what it's done. If you look at it in some concrete terms, in the third quarter Bush raised more than I believe Bauer, Dole, McCain and Hatch have probably raised in the entire year in terms of the amount of cash on hand, he has roughly $37 million of cash on hand. John McCain has I think about $2 million. Nobody else has anywhere close to that. Now Steve Forbes obviously has his own money but in terms of this, it gives him the ability to run a luxurious campaign, to do everything he needs to do when everybody else will have to scrimp and save and cut corners and pick their spots. MARGARET WARNER: But the figures you gave us in terms of his cash on hand suggest that he's spending money at a rapid clip too. DAN BALZ: Well, that is the interesting thing that we see in this third
quarter report. The Bush campaign has prided itself and bragged really
that they are a frugal campaign, a skin flint campaign; that they watch
all their pennies. The MARGARET WARNER: Yet he seems to be able to raise enough that doesn't really matter. DAN BALZ: In terms of the percentage how much he is raising than spending, he is doing better than anybody else, but this is not a tight-fisted campaign. They're spending it where they need to spend it and they're building a national political organization with the money they've raised. |
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| The threat from other candidates | ||||||||||||||||||||
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DAN BALZ: Well, it's interesting, Terry Neale, my colleague from the Post, and I were in Austin last week talking to a number of the Bush campaign staff. And we came away with a sense they have really changed their view of what this primary contest looks like. They were obsessed with Steve Forbes for most of the year primarily because Steve Forbes has a tremendous amount of money. And they expect him to spend it heavily, but now I think they see Forbes as a somewhat diminished threat. They are surprised he hasn't spent his money as heavily as they had expected. They were anticipating a barrage of negative ads. I think now what they're anticipating is what they kind of calling multiple skirmishes. They're going to have a different opponent in each of the early states. That they're going to have opponents picking and choosing the issues that they go after Bush on; that it may be Forbes or Dole in Iowa. It could be McCain in New Hampshire or it could be McCain in South Carolina. They think this will make a different kind of campaign, will force him to be responding in different ways in different states all at the same time. MARGARET WARNER: Finally, he has been criticized by some for not taking on Buchanan in his views on his book, and we saw that a little bit in the tape. What is the thinking in the Bush camp on how to handle that? DAN BALZ: Margaret, it seems a little confused. We got the clear impression
when we were in Austin that MARGARET WARNER: All right. Dan, thanks a lot. DAN BALZ: Thank you.
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GEORGE
W. BUSH: I'm running because as we head into the 21st century, I want
our nation to be prosperous. But prosperity must have a purpose. We've
got to be prosperous to keep the commitment to the elderly in America.
We need to have a Social Security system that not only fills the promise
of today but fulfills the promise of tomorrow. We've got to be prosperous
to keep the peace; because a dangerous world requires a sharpened sword,
I will rebuild the military power of the United States of America. I
want a campaign that will make you proud. I'm going to run a positive
campaign. I'm going to reject all this negativism that tends to be a
part of the political process. I'm going to talk about what I believe
and what I stand on and why I'm optimistic about the future of this
country. I'm going to bring new faces and new voices into the Republican
party. And I intend to appeal to our better angels, not our darker impulses.
MARGARET
WARNER: Then it was on to College Heights Elementary School, for an
informal session with students, teachers and their parents. But the
candidate made it clear he was there to talk to the kids.
MARGARET
WARNER: The questions were more pointed at a press conference in the
school library afterwards.
DAN
BALZ: It was a very typical day in a very typical slice inside the Bush
campaign. Most of his events are -- include a big fund-raiser with a
lot of people. This was a lower dollar event than some, but they include
many people. He gives the standard stump speech that he began giving
in Iowa and June, and has changed very little. It's almost word for
word what he's done since then. He's begun to give a few policy speeches
since then, but one of his advisers said until -- jokingly -- until
most Americans know the words of that stump speech by heart, they're
going to keep giving it. The other thing that he does is he almost always
going to a school generally where there Latino or African American children,
does a photo op, talks with the children. He often does a short press
conference with reporters but interestingly he does very little Q and
A with voters which most other candidates do. It is a very controlled
schedule. It puts Bush at his best and keeps him out of trouble.
MARGARET
WARNER: Another thing that doesn't seem to have changed is his phenomenal
money raising ability. The third quarter reports were due today and
he's up to what, $56 million total ? Put that in perspective for us
vis-à-vis the other candidates.
reality
is they are spending money at a much higher rate than Al Gore who has
gotten a lot of criticism for the amount of money his campaign has spent.
George W. Bush has now spent $19 million this year. He spent $12 million
in the third quarter alone. It's a remarkable amount of money he's spending.
MARGARET
WARNER: So, what is the thinking inside the Bush camp in terms of who
they see as the biggest threat to Bush, or do they see one?