-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Bush, McCain escalate battle in weekend vote scramble Copyright © 2000 Nando Media Copyright © 2000 Associated Press By GLEN JOHNSON BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (March 4, 2000 7:50 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - The Republican presidential contenders escalated their battle for Super Tuesday votes Saturday, with George W. Bush charging that John McCain has "clouded" education views Saturday, and McCain demanding "Where's the outrage?" over a late surge of money to pay for negative TV ads. McCain's question mimicked a line from the presidential campaign of former Sen. Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican nominee and a close friend of McCain. In the weekend before Tuesday's 13-state cluster of primaries and caucuses, Bush, the governor of Texas, campaigned in New York while McCain, a senator from Arizona, started his day in New England. The 613 delegates up for grabs Tuesday represent about two thirds of the 1,034 needed to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention this summer in Philadelphia. Heading into this week's voting, Bush had won 170 delegates and McCain 105. Alan Keyes, a radio talk-show host and the only other candidate remaining in the race, has 5, with 12 delegates officially uncommitted. Accompanied by Gov. George Pataki of New York, a host of New York congressmen and the chairman of the New York Republican Party, Bush spoke about education policy as he visited Rochester and Binghamton in a quest for the state's 101 convention delegates. That bounty is second only to the 162 at stake in California, where Bush leads McCain among Republicans. McCain started his day in Boston before flying to an event in Portland, Maine, and later stops in Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y. Polls show McCain leading in the five New England states that vote Tuesday, and a very close race looming in New York. Pataki, a two-term governor and a product of New York's formidable Republican machine, has put his organization - and his political capital - behind the candidacy of Bush, an effort made unsuccessfully by Gov. John Engler of Michigan two weeks ago. "Pataki has a real risk of being Englerized," said Nelson Warfield, a Republican operative who helped run Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign and who knows New York politics well. "If he is seen as losing his state for Bush, that hurts him." Pataki rejected the notion, saying: "Next Tuesday's a referendum on George Bush and John McCain." In fact, Pataki has had trouble keeping the New York troops in line, with Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari and U.S. Rep. Peter King switching to McCain from the Bush camp. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has endorsed Bush, went public with his refusal to join a Pataki-led effort to attack McCain's legislative record as "anti-New York." Bush later traveled to Hartford, Conn., where he was greeted by three governors - John Rowland of Connecticut, Paul Cellucci of Massachusetts and Christie Todd Whitman of New Jersey. Whitman, who was not among the majority of GOP governors who had already endorsed Bush, did so at the governor's Hartford event. Whitman withheld an earlier endorsement because Steve Forbes, a financial publisher from New Jersey, had been campaigning for the nomination. "We know he can get the job done," Whitman said. "We need somebody who will unite us through our strength, not divide us because of our differences." McCain aides also have their eye on California, where he's been 20 points behind among Republicans in the polls. They concede the senator must make a strong showing - at least in the overall vote - to keep his candidacy viable. Any California voter can cast a ballot in the Republican primary, but only votes from Republicans will count in assigning delegates. "I don't know if it's decisive or not. I know it's a critical period," McCain said of Tuesday's vote. Echoing the theme of a new campaign ad airing in New York and California, Bush charged that McCain offered a "clouded vision" on education policy when asked during a debate Thursday night. Bush is starting to air a radio ad this weekend in downstate New York and "targeted markets" in California strongly criticizing McCain's position on education and praising Bush's as "remarkable for its conservatism." In New York, the education ad will run concurrently with a controversial ad that accused McCain of being opposed to breast cancer research "They know know no depths," McCain said of the latest Bush ad. "There's no shame associated with the (Bush) campaign." The Bush campaign has been running the breast-cancer ad arguing that McCain voted against research on the disease, while McCain says he has repeatedly voted to boost breast-cancer research spending. The vote cited in the Bush ad was one where McCain opposed putting breast-cancer money in a military-spending measure. The senator's campaign staff called a news conference Saturday in Southern California with survivors of the disease. California Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer, a Newport Beach Republican, joined the survivors and their relatives in decrying Bush's use of the subject as a campaign issue. The McCain campaign has called the Bush spot "shameful," and allies have noted the senator's sister, Sandy McCain Morgan, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. On another front, two Texas brothers and prominent Bush supporters, Sam and Charles Wyly, acknowledged that they are spending $2.5 million on ads attacking McCain's environmental record, but Bush denied any connection or prior knowledge of the ads. On his way to a rally in Syracuse, N.Y., McCain again referred to the infusion of money from outside sources. "It's disgraceful and shameful conduct and he should tell them to stop," McCain said. "This is one of the great scandals of American political history." Bush planned to spend Saturday night at the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas, before returning to California on Sunday. McCain is also heading to California on Sunday after making stops in Ohio, another Super Tuesday state. Speaking with reporters aboard his "Straight Talk Express" bus, McCain conceded this campaign is probably his last shot at the presidency. "Ours is a campaign of reform," McCain said. 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