SNAPSHOT: GEORGE W. BUSH

	November 11, 1999
	Now, another in our series of snapshots from the various campaigns. The next snapshot is George W. Bush, and to Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER: Texas Governor George W. Bush made it official yesterday, traveling to the New Hampshire capital, Concord, to formally file for the state's first-in- the-nation primary. (Cheers and applause) There was a large crowd waiting for him afterwards. GEORGE W. BUSH: Thank ya'll very much. Ruthie, thank you very much. I'm honored so many turned out. I just filed my papers. I am in, and I intend to win. (Cheers) MARGARET WARNER: Bush has stepped up campaigning in New Hampshire since recent polls showed Senator John McCain gaining on him. Bush has been criticized for skipping debates, and for flunking a Boston TV reporter's pop quiz last week to name four foreign leaders. Bush made light of the flap yesterday. GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm leaving the house yesterday getting ready for the trip, and my wife says, "When you get up to New Hampshire, don't try to be debonair and witty. Just be yourself." Then she said, "Whatever you do, don't show off and try to name all the leaders of the free world." MARGARET WARNER: Then Bush got serious. GEORGE W. BUSH: Now probably some neighbor is going to come up to you and say "What is all this business about compassionate conservatism?" You look them in the eye and you tell them it's conservative to cut taxes. It's compassionate to give people their own money back. That's compassion" (Applause) I hope you'll join me as we march through the warm days and the cold days, as we march together to victory. Thank you all for coming. God bless you all. (Applause) MARGARET WARNER: He then took questions from reporters, and was repeatedly asked about McCain. REPORTER: Governor, how serious a threat do you consider John McCain, and is that one of the reasons you stepped up your appearances here? GEORGE W. BUSH: No. I've got strategy all along for the state of New Hampshire. I've been in your state a lot. I'm coming back a lot more. Senator McCain is a good man. He is a friend of mine. I've campaigned with him, I've campaigned for him. We just have an honest disagreement. He thinks he ought to be the nominee of the Republican Party, and I think I ought to be the nominee of the Republican Party. But he is a formidable opponent, and I respect him for it. John is a good man. I like my chances here, though. The crowds have been big. People hear my message of reducing government, lowering taxes, strengthening the military. I've laid out an education plan that I think the people of New Hampshire respect. The key is that this is a competitive race. I understand it's competitive, and I look forward to working hard. If I had to guess why Senator McCain is doing well, it's people respect him, and so do I. He's a good man. MARGARET WARNER: Another reporter asked if, in light of the pop quiz flap, he felt the press was questioning his depth or sincerity on issues. GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm asking...let me ask you, are you questioning my sincerity on the issues? No, I don't think so. I think the media is giving me a fair chance. But you know what I'm more interested in? What are the people saying? The people make the decisions in this campaign. The people know that I am a person who has been in a position of responsibility. I know how to lead - MARGARET WARNER: Bush closed on a question about his foreign policy. GEORGE W. BUSH: My point to America is I have a plan to keep the peace, and I intend to do so. I'm a free trader. I know the world would be more peaceful if we had free trade around the world. MARGARET WARNER: Last night, Bush traveled to Manchester to speak to the chapter of the association of the U.S. Army. He vowed to honor American's veterans. GEORGE W. BUSH: Those who man the lighthouse of freedom ask little of our nation in return. But what they ask our nation must provide: A coherent vision of America's duties, a clear military mission in the time of crisis, and when sent in harm's way, the best support and equipment our nation can supply. MARGARET WARNER: He also vowed to be sensitive to veterans' needs. GEORGE W. BUSH: Health care for veterans is often complicated and bureaucratic, involving too many delays and uncertainties in coverage. Soldiers once ordered by their government to stand in the line of fire should not now be ordered to stand in line at the nearest federal bureaucracy with hat in hand. Veterans need advocates in the Veterans Administration, people sympathetic to their interests instead of being suspicious. If I am elected, that is the kind of veteran's official that I will appoint. (Applause) MARGARET WARNER: Bush left New Hampshire last night, and was campaigning in the Midwest today. MARGARET WARNER: For more, we're joined by Dan Balz of the "Washington Post." He was covering Governor Bush in New Hampshire yesterday and he has been traveling with Senator McCain there today. The NewsHour is working with the Post and covering the 2000 presidential race. So, Dan, Governor Bush is talking like a man who thinks he's got a real race on his hand. Do his people think the McCain challenge is becoming serious? DAN BALZ: They do very much, particularly here in New Hampshire, Margaret. Governor Bush had the first nine months of this year mostly to himself. He raised a ton of money, as we all know, got a lot of endorsements. But the latter part of the fall has been much more John McCain's than Governor Bush's. A couple of months ago the polls here showed Governor Bush with a lead of in the neighborhood of twenty-five or thirty points. There have been two polls in the last week, including one today, that show the race now in single digits between Governor Bush and Senator McCain. And I think that the Bush campaign takes that very seriously. MARGARET WARNER: Why do you think this is happening? Why do the people up there think this is happening? DAN BALZ: Two things, one, John McCain has had very good fall through what's happened. He published a book about his life in Vietnam prison camp. That has turned into a big bestseller -- has earned him a lot of publicity and favorable attention. He fought for campaign finance reform, unsuccessfully, but, again, that drew him attention, particularly among those people here in New Hampshire who care about that issue. And third, and probably most important here is that he has devoted a lot of time to town meetings, to taking questions and giving answers to people. But, on the other side of the ledger, I think Governor Bush has been criticized here even by his supporters for not paying enough attention to New Hampshire. As you know, he skipped the two forums that have been held here among the candidates. He has not done a lot of the kind of Q&A with voters that people expect here. He has done handshaking, but not done the substantive work. And he has suffered - I think -- as a result of that. MARGARET WARNER: So, what is the Bush strategy for dealing with this? I notice from the clips we just saw that he certainly is very polite and deferential about McCain. He doesn't criticize him. DAN BALZ: No. They do not think they're going to get into a negative war with John McCain. In fact, they think quite the opposite, that this is likely to be a positive, positive campaign. It's certainly not what they had anticipated. They thought they would be dealing with a negative attack from Steve Forbes. And, instead, they've got a different kind of campaign. So, it will require some reorientation. But I think, more fundamentally, there are a couple things they anticipate. One is that they're going to step up their commitment to New Hampshire. I think they will pour more resources in here than they had planned. They are already on the air with television ads. The size of that buy will increase as we get closer to the primary. They will do more direct mail, they'll probably do more phoning, and, most importantly, he will spend more time here. But there is a second element to this as well. And I think this is, to them, the thing that gives them the most hope at this point, and that is that they have the resources to go the long haul in this campaign. They believe that they could absorb a loss in New Hampshire, though they are not counting on that. They think they could absorb it and still win the nomination. Senator McCain has focused mostly on New Hampshire and South Carolina, and Governor Bush's campaign says that they're prepared to play everywhere and that they have the resources to do it. But they're in a fight here, no doubt about it. MARGARET WARNER: Now, since this flap about flunking the pop quiz, there have been a lot of columns questioning a larger issue, which is Bush's seriousness. Is he really serious about issues? Is he really deep? Do the Bush people think this is just a press invention, or do they think there is a perception problem that may be growing that they have to deal with? DAN BALZ: I talked to a Bush person months and months ago. And we talked about this very question. He's known the governor for a long time. He said there's no question in his hind that the governor is bright and that he is substantive and that he can be a quick study. But he said, if the perception sets in that he is not, then they could have a problem. And I think that's one of the things they're grappling with right now. He is trying to diffuse the foreign policy quiz with some humor, as you saw in the piece that preceded this. But, in addition to that, I think they're going to have to take it on more directly. So far, he has not talked much ability his policies -- with the exception of education. He has foreign policy speech next week in California, where they hope to again put out more than principles about what he would do, but some specifics, but there is a lot that he hasn't talked about. I'll give you an example. He's running an advertisement here in New Hampshire that says Social Security, saving and reforming Social Security is one of his top priorities. I asked him yesterday if he's running that ad, why he has not had more to say about it. And we had - you know -- a brief exchange about it. And in the end, he said, "I may or may not put out a plan on Social Security this year." I think what voters are looking for and particularly here and in Iowa where they demand a lot of candidates, they will be looking for more specifics. Governor Bush may be able to begin to do that in the debates. He may be able to do that with some more speeches. But it will take some time to offset this question that he isn't prepared. MARGARET WARNER: All right. Well, thanks again, Dan, very much. DAN BALZ: Thank you, Margaret. JIM LEHRER: You can get more information on this story on the "Washington Post" Web site, and on ours.