Journey To The Center
Here's a pop quiz: Which presidential candidate spent last week promoting an expensive new health care plan and meeting with a group of gay activists?
Answer: The same one who's made education and the environment the linchpins of his campaign - George W. Bush, compassionate centrist.
The Texas governor is tossing off the conservative cloak he wore through his tough GOP primary battle with John McCain and reaching out to the moderates and independents who supported the Arizona senator. But as he heads for the supposed safety of the political middle ground, he may be courting trouble with his core.
"You don't want to risk alienating your base vote, and that represents a particular problem for Bush, because if Pat Buchanan is the Reform Party nominee, then the Republican base vote has someplace else to go," said David Rohde, a Michigan State University political science professor.
Just this past week, Bush, who's made a massive tax cut the centerpiece of his campaign, proposed new spending packages - mostly for health care - that would cost $46 billion over five years.
And he's showing up in places Republicans usually fear to tread, like the Grace Hill Family Center in inner-city St. Louis. That's where he pitched his health care plans on Wednesday and boasted, "I'm not afraid to go into different kinds of neighborhoods. As a matter of fact I welcome the opportunity because I believe in my message."
|
While he declared he was "a better person for the meeting," Bush assured his allies on the religious right his social views were intact, including his opposition to gay marriage.
But some social conservatives are concerned that Bush may be going too far.
Former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer said that simply by meetng with gay leaders, Bush had "elevated the gay rights agenda to a level of recognition within the Republican Party that contradicts our long-standing commitment to pro-family values."
He warned that Bush was running the risk of driving conservatives to Buchanan.
"I don't think it does broaden (the base) when you take that approach," said Bauer. "That's the approach that we tried in the last two presidential elections. We end up shooting ourselves in the foot."
Bush's Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore, dismisses the governor's moves to the political center - and his attention to traditionally Democratic issues like gay rights and health care - as a gimmick.
Gore communications director Kathleen Begala told CBSNews.com that "George W. Bush meets with a lot of people, but it's not the meeting that counts, it's the substance."
"He goes to a community health center, but under his watch Texas has one of the worst health records in the nation," Begala added. "People are going to vote on what people stand for, not on who takes meetings."
While the gay Republicans who spoke with Bush expressed satisfaction with the meeting, other gay leaders expressed skepticism about the governor's motives.
"Clearly it's a political calculation, a political manipulation," said David Smith communications director for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian political organization. "He gets to look moderate but still tell his religious right supporters he hasn't changed any policy positions."
Smith said that "after tossing red meat to the religious right" during the primaries, Bush is now trying "to step gingerly back to the center, hoping no one will notice."
But Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the governor's meeting with gay leaders proves that he's not a run-of-the-mill Republican.
"There are some disagreements on certain issues," said McClellan. "But this meeting is another example of Governor Bush's inclusive record as a different kind of Republican, one who reaches out to people from all walks of life and unites them."
The question for the Bush camp is whether these efforts to reach out to a broader spectrum of the electorate will be met with enthusiasm or cynicism by voters - and whether appeals to the political center will cost him support on the right.
A key test for Bush to prove he's a uniter, not a divider, will come on May 9, when he and McCain get together in Pittsburgh for their first face-to-face talks since the end of the primary season.
Bush hopes he'll end up with a McCain endorsement, "but I don't know if it will happen as a result of the meeting," he said.