Bush Looks to Gain Support On the Trail in New Hampshire By JACKIE CALMES Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MANCHESTER, N.H. -- On a drizzly winter day, the bus pulls up ahead of schedule. George W. Bush is eager to show the critics: He works the grass roots with the best of them and takes no vote for granted. Here at Manchester's West High School he even seeks support from students too young to vote. "They've all got parents," jokes one Bush aide. Seriously, though, once Mr. Bush starts speaking -- shouting, rather, and chopping the air with stiff hands -- he does seem to be addressing some other audience, somewhere. And, it turns out, he is. On this last campaign day of 1999, the Bush campaign for the first time is filming what it calls a "crash ad." A campaign assistant, youthful enough to blend in, roams the packed auditorium shouldering a digital camera: These students are about to become the backdrop for a Bush commercial that will be ready the next day for television screens all over New Hampshire -- the one place where Mr. Bush isn't the Republican presidential front-runner. Campaign Portrait: George W. Bush ON THE ISSUES Advocates income tax rate reductions that include cutting top rate to 33% from 39.6% and bottom rate to 10% from 15%, doubling child credit to $1,000, and eliminating estate taxes. Supports conditioning federal education funds on improved student performance, permitting federal funds to be used for private-school tuition, and allowing parents to set aside $5,000 annually tax-free to pay for private elementary and secondary education. Seeks to expand faith-based social services by lifting federal regulations, expanding federal charitable deductions, and establishing a public/private "Compassion Capital Fund." ON GEORGE W. BUSH What do you think poses the single greatest threat to U.S. security and economic prosperity in the 21st century?" "Education. Every child must be educated so every child has the opportunity to realize the promise of America." What book (excepting the Bible) that you've ever read has been most important to you? " 'The Dream and the Nightmare' by Myron Magnet crystallized for me the impact the failed culture of the '60s had on our values and society." Do your children attend public or private schools? Why? "Public school (Austin High School). Laura and I determined it was the best place for them to receive a well-rounded education." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- That mix of the traditional campaign rally and state-of-the-art political technique captures the well-funded Bush campaign now that 2000 is finally here. For all of Mr. Bush's unprecedented campaign funds and GOP mandarins' support, here the Texas governor squandered his most basic resource -- himself. He hasn't been to New Hampshire nearly enough for its voters, who zealously guard the small state's status as political testing ground. They're tire-kickers, to use Mr. Bush's phrase, but he hasn't been around enough for finicky Free Staters to kick his. Battle Against McCain So, politically, the 53-year-old Mr. Bush begins the new year in a dead heat or behind in state polls against John McCain, who is focusing on New Hampshire's Feb. 1 primary rather than Iowa's caucuses a week earlier. The Arizona senator hopes to stop Mr. Bush's march to the GOP nomination with a win in New Hampshire and a good showing in South Carolina. Conversely, a McCain defeat in New Hampshire could clear the way for Mr. Bush. This December day, Mr. Bush vows that things will change for his campaign. "People wonder about my intensity." he tells reporters. "Those days are over." Before entering West High, Mr. Bush lingers characteristically outside his bus, to josh with locals and reporters, pose for pictures and sign autographs. Some students inside press against second-floor windows for a look. One yells, "Mr.. Bush, Mr. Bush! Up here!" When the young man beckons again minutes later, the wisecracking governor shoots back: "Have you thought about going to class?" "I'm in class," the teenager replies. As Mr. Bush enters the auditorium, it erupts like a pep rally. Blue-and-white Bush-for-President signs blend with the Blue Knights' banners of identical colors. Finally, to quiet the crowd, Mr. Bush yells into the microphone, "Behave yourselves!" They like that. But then Mr. Bush keeps yelling as he delivers the stump speech he has given since his June 12 campaign debut. His delivery will look fine, forceful even, on the TV ads -- which is, after all, the point. Yet in the intimacy of the small auditorium Mr. Bush seems loudly off-key and programmed. Relying on Stock Phrases Verbally he punches out his stock phrases: Free trade. Military power. Local control of schools. Jobs and tax cuts. He says -- twice -- that he's running "so the American dream can touch every willing heart." But the students have to take responsibility, too, he says. While Bush critics carp that he has traded on his family pedigree in both business and politics, Mr. Bush tells the students from this gritty neighborhood: "In my vision of things, nothing's given to you in life." He takes astute questions, and his answer to the first one -- on his tax-cut plan -- provides the sound bite for the ad in the works. The next student asks whether Mr. Bush supports Colombian President Andres Pastrana's bid for drug-fighting aid. Mr. Bush repeats to the assemblage, "Pastrana -- he's the president of Colombia." At first it seems he's making a self-deprecating joke on himself, after his much-publicized flub of a Boston TV reporter's pop quiz on world leaders. But in fact Mr. Bush is seriously instructing the other students. As he leaves, Mr. Bush works his way slowly through the crowd. Any student who wants time has the chance. One girl illustrates how demanding New Hampshirites are with politicos; she walks away noting that Mr. Bush's autograph is her fourth, counting President Clinton's. Defensive About Strategies Afterward, meeting with reporters, the Texas governor is clearly tired, and defensive about his strategies. He volunteers that he began his campaign months later than his rivals because, "I stayed at home as governor doing my job." He adds: "A lot of people were wondering when I was going to get out of the chute." But he says he has proved critics wrong for predicting he wouldn't come forward with detailed policy proposals, or that he would expect to be elected "just for showing up." As for the controversy over his skipping a GOP debate in New Hampshire in the fall, to attend a Dallas tribute to his wife, Laura, he says, "If that cost me voters in New Hampshire and other places, so be it." With the reporters, Mr. Bush also takes on Mr. McCain more than he has before, in what campaign strategists say will mark Mr. Bush's offensive this month. Noting that Mr. McCain complains the Bush tax cut would be too big, he challenges: Ask New Hampshire's ardently antitax Republicans if they agree. That night, he is keynote speaker for the annual holiday dinner of the New Hampshire Women's Forum to benefit a children's home. Paid attendance is way up given Mr. Bush's presence. For the candidate, it's a good venue to showcase his trademark message that government should encourage private "armies of compassion," and "faith-based" groups to provide more social services. Besides the dinner and high-school rally, this day he shoehorns in visits with a Derry, N.H., editorial board, bus interviews with reporters ranging from the Nashua, N.H., newspaper to the New Yorker magazine, and a private reception with about 200 Republicans, many of them uncommitted tire-kickers. Afterward, back on the bus, he marvels to supporter Tom Rath, a longtime state GOP leader, about the thoroughness of the New Hampshire vetting process. 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