The Political Pages

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) - George W. Bush said Wednesday that he hopes Ross Perot holds no "personal vendettas" against his family that might prompt the Reform Party founder to meddle with the Republican presidential campaign.

The GOP front-runner also made a direct appeal to supporters of presidential rival Pat Buchanan, the conservative commentator poised to bolt to the Reform Party.

"If I'm the nominee, I'm going to have to work hard to keep some of his supporters who are inclined as Republicans to stay in their party," the two-term Texas governor said. "If he's goes, he's gone. The question is: Will some of the people who supported Pat Buchanan, who are loyal Republicans, stay with the Republican nominee?"

The remarks at a news conference between campaigns stops marks the first time Bush has so openly courted Buchanan voters. The sentiments reflect a growing sense within the GOP that Buchanan will bolt, and may suggest that Bush is more concerned about a competitive three-party race than he has admitted publicly.

Many Republicans fear the conservative commentator could siphon votes from the GOP nominee. Some Bush backers are suggesting that Perot allies are wooing Buchanan to form an unholy alliance that could hurt Bush if he is competing for the general election.

Bush was asked if he agreed that Perot was out to get him.

"It's hard for me to tell. I hope not," he said. I hope that people enter the political process with what's best for the country in mind (and) not ... make decisions based on person vendettas. I don't know Mr. Perot well enough to be able to tell you whether he's got personal animus toward me."

Yet he recalled with some detail Perot's last-minute endorsement of Texas Gov. Ann Richards in her 1994 campaign against Bush. He defeated her to win his first term.

"I thought that was an interesting endorsement," Bush said.

And he gave Perot partial credit for President Clinton's 1992 victory over his father, former President George Bush. Perot drew 19 percent of the vote, much of it from the elder Bush.

That same year, Buchanan nearly upset the incumbent president in the New Hampshire primaries.

"I've always thought in the 1992 campaign it was hard for my dad to get traction in the race because Patrick J. Buchanan and then Ross Perot inflicted a series of cuts," Bush said.

Perot, who had been at odds with the elder Bush over prisoner-of-war issues, holds no grudges, according to Reform Party chairman Russell Verney.

"Mr. Perot has no personal animus toward George, George W. or any other Bush," he said. The former president has only himself to blame for the defeat, Verney said.

"If they're looking for the death of a thousand cuts in 1992, they should start with "Read my lips" and follow up with the worst executed election in the history of the country," he said.

Buchanan and Perot are expected to talk this week by telephone about the Republican's prospective change of parties, knowledgeable officials said Wednesday.

Buchanan plans to decided by mid-October whether to leave the party.

Bush said it's too early to determine whether Buchanan would hurt the GOP ticket. He noted that Buchanan is not guaranteed the third party nomination, and ticked off a list of potential Buchanan rivals. "I hear all kinds of rumors about all kinds of candidates, including The Donald," Bush said with a grin, referring to New York tycoon Donald Trump.

The Texan has been accused by some Republicans of coddling Buchanan. He has not joined in the call, led by presidential rival John McCain, for Buchanan to leave the party in light of his new book that says Nazi Germany was not a threat to the United States after 1940.

"I think obviously his revisionist history about World War II is wrong," Bush said in his most critical remarks to date.

In what might have been a parable to the Buchanan situation, Bush noted that he had wanted to campaign against ex-Klansman David Duke, who was seeking a congressional seat this year. Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster talked him out of it, Bush said, with the argument that any attention would elevate Duke's status.

"It was good advice," Bush said.

He stuck to his position that Buchanan should remain a Republican. "I'd like to whip him in the primary," he said. "I'd like to have his ideas out there in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and see whether or not Republicans embrace or don't embrace what he stands for."

He said, for example, that he supports free trade while Buchanan does not.

Meanwhile, Bush's campaign announced Wednesday that several supporters of former Vice President Dan Quayle, who quit the presidential race on Monday, had endorsed Bush.

Among them are former Sens. Dan Coats of Indiana and Mac Mattingly of Georgia and Rep. Dave McIntosh of Indiana - all members of Quayle's national steering committee.

The Political Pages			*The Political Pages*
			*Government Links*
			*Return Home*