George W. Bush: Ladies' Man
George W. Bush, reaching out to women and political moderates, kept up his focus on education Wednesday and suggested that support for abortion rights wouldn't necessarily disqualify any potential running mate.
Bush, the expected Republican presidential nominee, toured a charter school that he said showed how his proposal for alternatives to failing schools could work. New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, mentioned by some as a possible vice presidential choice, accompanied him.
While saying he had not made any running mate lists, Bush spoke warmly of Whitman when reporters asked about her chances, even though he opposes abortion and she favors abortion rights.
"Good people can disagree on the issue, and I understand that and I'm standing here with a friend of mine," Bush said after he and Whitman toured the North Star Academy, an inner-city charter school with a 700-child waiting list.
"We disagree on some aspects of the issue," Bush added. "That doesn't mean we can't be pulling for the same thing, being on the same team, and I respect Gov. Whitman's views and I respect her as a person."
The Texas governor's comments on abortion and his focus this week on education were part of his move back toward the political center after a bitter Republican primary campaign in which some analysts believe he moved too far right.
On Tuesday, Bush rolled out a $5 billion reading initiative. On Thursday in Wisconsin, Bush plans to promote teacher recruiting and retraining.
Bush started his day Wednesday by having breakfast with Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, the Roman Catholic head in Newark. During the primary campaign, Bush was criticized for speaking at Bob Jones University, a South Carolina school whose leaders have embraced anti-Catholic views.
In the last two elections, the GOP has been plagued by a gender gap, the trend for men to support Republicans and women to support Democrats.
In recent polls, Vice President Al Gore, the likely Democratic nominee, is running only several percentage points ahead of Bush among women, however, while the Texas governor is out polling Gore among men by about one dozen percentage points.
Steve Salmore, a Republican political analyst from New Jersey, said Whitman would be an unlikely choice for Bush because her pro-choice views could inflame internal conflict.
"She has become a symbol for many people of the pro-choice Republicans. I think it would make that issue a major issue of division at the convention, and I don't think George Bush needs that," Salmore said.
Chuck Donovan, who replaced former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer as head of the Family Research Council, said in a statement "it is common practice for guests to compliment their hosts."
But Donovan also delivered an implicit warning to Bush, saying that when presidential candidates pick running mates they "send a strong signal to te American people about whether they are serious about defending the most defenseless members of the human family, our unborn children."
Abortion-rights supporters were quick to pounce on Bush.
Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said Bush wants "madly to try to reposition himself from being out on the right-wing," but it won't work.
"Christie Todd Whitman is not going to change the reality that George W. Bush is a threat to women's constitutional and legal right to reproductive choice no matter what he says," she said.
Whitman, campaigning with Bush on Tuesday and Wednesday in New Jersey, twice introduced him by saying his compassionate conservative philosophy "transcends litmus tests."
Bush, calling Whitman a friend, said, "I can't wait to campaign with her, not only in the state of New Jersey but all around America."