Governors Ready To Rally

Republican governors, who gave George W. Bush's presidential run early and powerful backing, are brimming with free advice for his struggling campaign as they gather here for their winter meeting.

With Sen. John McCain making a serious run at the man who once appeared inevitable, Bush's backers are rallying around their colleague from Texas. But they're also quick to offer ideas about how his campaign can regain its footing after losses in two of three competitive primaries.

Of course, the advice is different, depending on the governor: Stick to the core issues, says one. Keep your eye on the upcoming battle with Democrats, says another. Better yet, says a third, let governors have more say over the races in their states.

"Set the rules, but let us do it our way at home," said Gov. Ed Schafer of North Dakota, chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

North Dakota's primary is Tuesday, but Schafer can't figure out why he hasn't been more involved in the Bush campaign: "How come I'm not doing a radio spot encouraging people to go out and vote, and using my image or my trust or whatever I have with the voters to spread the Bush message?"

Governors of both parties are meeting this weekend for their annual Washington gathering, with an official agenda filled with policy issues. But politics tops the unwritten agenda, particularly for Republicans, who are watching one of their own try to regain his footing in the face of McCain's unexpectedly strong challenge.

So far, the group is holding together for Bush. Early endorsements and encouragement from a run of Republican governors helped the Bush campaign gain steam before the Texas governor declared he was running. And it helped rally the party establishment around him as the GOP's best hope for taking back the White House.

"No one has talked about bolting," said Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah. "We'll just be rallying around him to give him our support, both political and emotional," he said.

"They're a pretty solid bunch of governors. Once they're on board, they're on for the long haul," said Michigan Gov. John Engler.

But Schafer plans to deliver a cautionary message to his colleagues. Too many governors assumed it was enough to turn over lists of party activists and volunteers, he said. "We said turning over our political organizations is good enough, and it isn't."

Bush's entire operation was second-guessed after he lost primaries in Michigan and Arizona on Tuesday. Supporters questioned, among other things, spending $1 million on ads in Arizona, McCain's home state. Connecticut Gov. John Rowland said it was stupid to visit Bob Jones University in South Carolina, which has a racist and anti-Catholic reputation.

Like her colleagues, New Jersey's Christie Whitman is confident Bush will win the GOP nomination. But she worries that the visit to Bob Jones and other efforts to appeal t the most conservative voters will come back to bite Bush in the general election, when candidates will be fighting for voters in the political center.

"The most important thing is to put together a coalition that can win in the fall," Whitman said. "It can be dangerous if you start to marginalize yourself in any way." Asked if Bush has done that, she said: "I don't think that's happened in any kind of irretrievable way."

At the same time, governors say, these controversies, along with constant bickering over which candidate is most guilty of negative campaigning, have distracted Bush from his core messages on taxes, education and opportunity for all.

Bush lost Michigan, Schafer said, "because we were fighting about who said what first and who hit who first in the sandbox."

He recalled being in Arizona with a group of governors when controversy erupted over whether McCain's campaign was making phone calls to voters that suggested Bush was anti-Catholic because he spoke at Bob Jones. Schafer said the Bush campaign gave the group a list of talking points for an event, and at the top was such information as how many Catholic governors support Bush.

"Buried way down in the bottom was Governor Bush stands for inclusion for all, for opportunity," he said. "We're going, `We ought to lead with that!"'

The campaign may be getting the message, Engler said. He applauded the move late this week to have Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore talk about the McCain phone calls, freeing Bush to discuss his core issues.

That's the key, said Leavitt. "Our message to him is to stay focused on his message of reform and not to get caught up in the sidebar stories."

Then again, Leavitt remembered in 1996 when Republican nominee Bob Dole met with the 17 Republican governors, each of whom took a turn at offering advice.

"By the time you got around to all 17, there's just no way he could have even remembered all the advice, let alone accepted it," Leavitt said. "We're probably compulsive advice givers. We can't stop ourselves."