NEW YORK — After successful showdowns with Oprah, Regis and Al Gore, George W. Bush emerged unscathed from a Thursday night encounter with a man not known for letting people off the hook easily: David Letterman.
The veteran late-night host has made Bush a constant target of ridicule ever since the Texas governor's first appearance on the show earlier this year, in a satellite interview marred by a time delay and a few poorly received jokes.
This time things were noticeably different.
It was the more confident Bush of debate number 2 that showed up on the Late Show — tanned, rested and seemingly ready for any zingers Dave might throw.
But Letterman, as he did with Hillary Clinton last winter, went more for the conversational than the jugular, nearly apologizing for his bullying. "Almost from the beginning I've been very hard on you," he admitted.
"Really?" Bush replied. He denied any animosity over the on-air ribbing. "I'm glad you were saying my name," he said.
Bush was quick to titter at Letterman's witticisms and fared well in the humor department himself.
"A lot of folks didn't think I'd be able to string a sentence together," Bush said of his three debate appearances. "Expectations were so low all I had to do was say 'Hi, I'm George W. Bush."
Tapping Dave's desk-top microphone he joked, "I'm always checking these days" — a reference to being caught on a live microphone last month calling a New York Times reporter "a major league a--hole."
Letterman praised the incident as "the most honest moment of the campaign," and asked Bush if he felt any need to apologize to the scribe. "Not really," said the Texan. The audience cheered.
As Gore had done in his appearance on the show a few weeks ago, Bush read a self-deprecating Top Ten list.
His top ten "Changes I'll make in the White House" included "Make sure the White House library has lots of books with big print and pictures," "Will not get sick on Japanese leaders like other President Bushes I know," and "Give Oval Office one heck of a scrubbing."
Even a Gore supporter in the audience found herself chuckling along with the GOP candidate. "I was wondering who was writing his jokes," said Elizabeth Ames of Portland, Oregon.
Extended periods of serious talk saw the candidate professorially discussing the Middle East crisis, the environment and the death penalty.
Bush soberly dismissed months of Letterman's Bush-as-electrocutioner jokes, saying, "I hope you're not laughing at the expense of the people being executed."
He added he would drop his support for the death penalty "if I could be convinced it didn't deter murder."
Defending his support for tapping the nation's fuel reserves, Bush said that the technology doesn't exist to effectively reduce America's dependence on oil. Letterman replied, "I'm not smart enough to counter any of these (arguments)."
He let Bush get away without choosing between the Mets and the Yankees in the upcoming World Series. "I like that New York club, I do," Bush said.
Audience member Tony Santoro said Bush was "a lot better" than he was in his last Letterman performance. "He was more relaxed, I guess. He looked like he knew what was coming."
Jason Osberg, 26, an undecided voter from Minneapolis, said he was impressed by Bush "because he was honest. He just told what he thought."
Not everyone was a fan of the Republican.
"I thought [Letterman] was asking up-front questions, but Bush wasn't being up-front in return," said Katrina Foster, a 19-year-old college student from Denver. Earlier, Bush took part in a taped sketch for an upcoming Saturday Night Live special in which he mangles the words "ambivalent" and "offensive." He reportedly had to re-take his part twice because he pronounced the words correctly.
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