Bush Visits Florida to Bolster Brother
Strategists Dispute Value of President's Presence as McBride Advances in Polls
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 18, 2002; Page A14
URL: washingtonpost.com
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla., Oct. 17 -- President Bush gave Florida Gov. Jeb Bush a limousine ride, saturation statewide publicity and $1 million in campaign cash today in an effort to bolster his younger brother's suddenly endangered reelection race.
But Democratic leaders said the constant presidential attention to Florida is just firing up their voters by reviving memories of the disputed election of 2000, and some Republican strategists agree.
A second term for the Florida governor has been an administration-wide project for nearly two years, prompting 11 presidential visits, frequent pilgrimages by Cabinet secretaries and a steady stream of federal largess. The drive coincides neatly with the president's goal of winning the fourth-largest state by more than 537 votes when he runs again in 2004.
The Bush brothers -- with the governor a few inches taller and the president seven years older -- promoted their education agendas at an elementary school cafeteria, in front of a backdrop that repeated the phrase "Reading First" more than 200 times. Then the brothers motorcaded to a Daytona Beach mansion to meet with 100 donors who had given an average of $10,000 each, bringing the White House's fundraising for Florida Republicans this year to at least $6 million.
The governor praised his brother's wartime leadership, even adopting his trademark reference to terrorists as "evildoers." The president thanked the governor for his passion for teaching every child to read.
"I know him well," the president said, to chuckles. "I know his heart, I know his strength of conviction, I know his vision."
Gone were the usual joking references by the president, 56, to Jeb Bush, 49, as "my little brother," or the barbs of sibling rivalry that draw wan smiles from the governor.
The race now is serious family business, with little-known Democratic challenger Bill McBride, 57, a retired lawyer, pulling nearly even with Bush in polls.
Despite the Bush campaign's slams at "millionaire McBride" and "corporate lawyer McBride," the challenger's folksy manner and vague platform are gaining traction and Bush is having to defend his handling of public schools, which he calls his signature achievement and McBride calls a sham.
And then there is the brother factor, which has made the governor a target of Democrats bent on avenging Al Gore. Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said his top applause line as he travels the country concerns the defeat of Jeb Bush, as he vows to take out "one Bush at a time."
Administration and campaign sources said Jeb Bush's media consultant, Mike Murphy, thought the governor needed to run as his own man and argued for minimizing the president's political appearances, while still taking advantage of his fundraising. The sources said that resulted in a test of wills between Murphy and the president's senior adviser, Karl C. Rove, who contended that frequent appearances by the president would benefit both Bushes. Murphy and Rove had squared off in the GOP primaries when Murphy advised Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Strategists for Jeb Bush said the election will have a low turnout, making it crucial to motivate their most loyal supporters. They said no one can do that more effectively than the president, who also can help them attract moderate, undecided voters.
Al Cardenas, the Florida GOP chairman, said the race will not be decided on any specific issue but "on qualities like leadership, integrity and courage," and he said the president's presence reinforces that message.
Senior Republican officials said they had no choice but to throw everything into the race, even if it risked inciting Democratic loyalists. "If Jeb lost, that would be the only story on the networks on election night," one official said. "It would be all about a repudiation of the president, his weakness for '04 and, 'It's the economy, stupid.' "
Two weeks ago, in the latest of a barrage of federal announcements benefiting Florida, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta flew to Daytona Beach to announce a contract of $20 million to be spent through an aviation safety center at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The president, looking out for both himself and his brother, has become a Sunshine State commuter since taking office, visiting three schools, two Air Force bases, two senior centers, a Habitat for Humanity site, a Rotary Club, a firefighters' training center and an electronics factory. He held a town meeting on jobs and a roundtable on corporate responsibility, and spoke at Everglades National Park and at a Cuban Independence Day celebration in Miami.
The visits have put Jeb Bush in the familiar position of being overshadowed, as he was when he ran unsuccessfully for governor the first time in 1994, in the aftermath of his father's presidency. Then, when he went to his brother's nominating convention in Philadelphia in 2000, much of the limelight for his immediate family went to his telegenic son, George P. Bush.
"I have the honor of introducing my brother, the president of the United States, to everybody that already knows him," Jeb Bush said before taking a seat behind his brother on the stage this afternoon.
Phil Giorno, the Democratic chairman here in Volusia County, said more than 300 people called the party headquarters in the last four days to volunteer for McBride because they objected to what Giorno called the Bushes' political use of a public school.
A few of the teachers and local officials who attended Bush's speech at Read-Patillo Elementary School said they doubted the president's popularity would transfer to his embattled brother. "People are upset about what he says he's done -- they don't see it," said Pamela Vandergrifft, a Republican who said she would vote for McBride.
Many more said the visit would help the governor, and questioned the campaign chatter. "I truly believe the president came here to honor our school," said Donna Stoddard, a Democrat and fifth-grade teacher.
Another presidential visit to Florida is scheduled a few days before the election.
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