Taking Their Best Shots
"There's only one poll that matters, and that one takes place Tuesday," George W. Bush said Saturday. With that one poll just three days away, candidates are ratcheting up the intensity in New Hampshire.
Bush has a point when he says the other polls don't matter. There are new ones out every day, and those pesky statistical margins of error are wreaking havoc with already slim leads. Bush is either just barely trailing John McCain or neck and neck with him. Vice President Al Gore still tops Bill Bradley, but Bradley may have arrested his own fall. Among these four, no one has a double digit lead. Anything can happen.
For Bush, that means a family affair. For the first time this weekend, he staged an event with his parents, former President George Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush. Bush's parents bring a patina of tradition to his campaign, an aura of achievement.
CBS News's John Roberts is with the DemocratsCBS News's Bill Whitaker reports on the GOP
Brief remarks from George and Barbara sufficed to delight the Bush crowd in Milford, N.H., Saturday afternoon. "I'm proud to be here," the former President (and New Hampshire primary winner) grinned. "I'm proud of our son and our whole family. And this boy, this son of ours, is not going to let you down. He's going to go all the way."
If there was a hint of "the heir presumptive" in Bush the Younger's manner, it's not surprising. McCain isn't his only problem - he may lose valuable conservative votes to Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes or Gary Bauer. Bush wants to remind voters that he really and truly is a conservative, albeit a "compassionate" one. He futher bolstered his image with other Republican stars: New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg and former candidate Elizabeth Dole joined Saturday's lovefest.
McCain is fighting to maintain the margin he's enjoyed for weeks. His touting his background - "I don't need any on-the-job training," McCain announced. Heretofore, he boasted of his own record without mentioning Bush's, but as the hours slip away, so has McCain's restraint. Some people, McCain coyly told reporters, might think that Bush "is not ready for prime time. I could see why people would say that."
On the democratic side, these are do-or-die hours for Bradley. In his struggle to beat Gore, he's found an improbable weapon - abortion. He's been hammering Gore for inconsistency on abortion rights. Gore says he has always been pro-choice, but he "wrestled with" federal funding for abortions back when he was in Congress; eventually he supported that as well.
But Bradley thinks he's onto something. His campaign has distributed a 1984 letter from Gore, then a U.S. Congressman, to a constituent, wherein Gore wrote he thought abortion was wrong. Bradley's arguing that Gore hasn't been honest on this score.
Saturday morning, Bradley told an audience at a campaign event, "On the issue of choice, I think that you just have to be direct.... It's not an issue that you can dance around."
Gore, by contrast, campaigns like a winner. "I'm not going to get down to that level. I have never made a personal attack against him and I'm not going to," he said after hearing of Bradley's latest tactic. The Vice President is pitching the same earnest, policy-heavy speech he always has. "Sorry to be long-winded," he told a New Hampshire resident after a particularly detailed answer to one question, but his audience seemed patiently appreciative.
"I strongly support a woman's right to choose. If he disputes that, he's making a mistake," Gore insisted when reporters pressed him on abortion.
The primary results themselves will tell whether indeed Bradley is making a mistake by going on the attack.