Editorial: Candidate panics -- veers right

At the outset of the 2000 presidential election campaign, Texas Gov. George W. Bush was viewed as the Republican with the best chance of capturing the White House. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" promised to offer a political vision that would appeal to many Democrats and independents, making it difficult for a Democrat to beat him in the general election. Within the GOP, even religious conservative leaders held their noses and backed Bush, believing it was far better to nominate someone who actually had a chance of winning. Bush seemed invincible, amassing $70 million in campaign contributions and securing the endorsements of GOP governors and key members of Congress.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation. While Bush won the Iowa caucuses, he was trounced by Arizona Sen. John McCain in the New Hampshire primary. Instead of continuing along the path of reaching out to moderate voters, Bush became unnerved. Bush responded by veering sharply to the right, arguing that he was the genuine conservative among Republicans. The Associated Press reported that Bush's campaign manager said last week that his candidate would highlight the senator's alliance with Democrats on campaign finance reform and McCain's support from unions. Considering his longtime conservative record -- pro-life on abortion, an anti-tax record and his opposition to pork barrel projects -- tarring McCain as a closet liberal is ridiculous. What particularly rankles some Republican leaders, though, is that McCain has advocated campaign financ e reform, which is anathema to all of the big businesses and special interest groups lining up behind Bush.

Bush, in recent days, has made efforts to reach some of the same voters that McCain has appealed to, essentially launching a "me, too" campaign. For instance, now Bush claims to be the "reformer with results" and even has endorsed a limited version of campaign finance reform. Still, Bush loyalists are worried that since many states allow Democrats and independents to vote in Republican primaries, these voters might actually tilt the nomination to McCain. Bush advisers even are publicly claiming that many Democrats secretly want to infiltrate these primaries and vote for McCain. Why? Because they believe Democrats want the weakest candidate to get the GOP nomination. Some new national polls, however, belie this theory, showing that McCain -- not Bush -- would be the stronger Republican candidate in the general election.

The Bush campaign is ignoring the successful strategies of the most recent two-term presidents -- Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Although the men had strikingly different political philosophies, they each understood the necessity of connecting to voters who belong to other parties. The Bush campaign's current obsession to win the Republican nomination at any cost may actually end up doing the very thing it had tried to avoid at the beginning -- alienating Democrats and independents in November's general election.

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