Republicans tout appeal to diverse voters

Bush, McCain battle on religion, finances during debate; Keyes targets conservatives LOS ANGELES - In their 10th campaign face-off, GOP presidential contenders George W. Bush

Friday, March 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Bush, McCain battle on religion, finances during debate; Keyes targets conservatives

LOS ANGELES - In their 10th campaign face-off, GOP presidential contenders George W. Bush and John McCain sparred over religion and campaign finance Thursday, each claiming to be the best Republican to take the party to victory in the fall.
"When I become the nominee, I'm going to reach out," Mr. Bush said in the last debate before next week's string of delegate-rich presidential primaries.
Mr. McCain said his recent attacks on conservative religious leaders Pat Roberton and Jerry Falwell would not prevent conservative Christian voters from supporting him for president.
"They have led some very good and wonderful people in a message of intolerance," the Arizona senator said of the two conservatives. "Their practice of politics is exclusionary and not inclusionary."
Mr. Bush and conservative commentator Alan Keyes were in Los Angeles for the nationally televised debate, sponsored by CNN and The Los Angeles Times. Mr. McCain appeared by satellite from St. Louis.
In one of their sharpest exchanges, Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain tangled over campaign finance reform, a signature issue of the Arizona senator's campaign.
Mr. Bush chided Mr. McCain for targeting the "iron triangle" of lobbyists, special interests and politicians in his public speeches.
"You talk about the iron triangle, but you're ringing it like a dinner bell with all those fund-raisers for lobbyists in Washington, D.C.," the Texas governor said.
"If I'm ringing it like a dinner bell," Mr. McCain retorted, "you've got both feet in the trough because you've raised five times as much money as I have."
On the issue of gun safety, Mr. Bush said he would support requiring manufacturers to sell trigger locks with guns but would not mandate their use.
"The question is how do we enforce it?" he said. "Are we going to have trigger-lock police knocking on people's doors."
The debate came on the heels of a particularly acrimonious period in the campaign, during which the candidates have accused each other of negative campaigning in earlier primaries.
Mr. McCain again spoke out Thursday in defense of telephone calls made by his campaign to voters in several states accusing Mr. Bush of failing to speak out against anti-Catholic bias at Bob Jones University during a recent visit there. The school bans interracial dating and its leaders have spoken against Catholicism in the past.
"I did not accuse him of being an anti-Catholic bigot," Mr. McCain said, describing the calls as "factual and fair" in describing the Bush visit and the religious bias of the school's administrators.
Mr. Bush fired back: "If you don't think those phone calls labeled me an anti-Catholic bigot, you're not paying attention."
Mr. Bush has apologized for failing to publicly distance himself from the school's anti-Catholic sentiment during his Feb. 2 campus appearance.
But he said Mr. McCain went too far by "questioning my integrity" in making the telephone calls.
"What I regret is the politics of smearing somebody's reputation," he said.
In recent days, the Bush campaign has produced a series of elected officials and religious leaders to defend the governor. And the campaign points to wins in three delegate-selection contests this week as evidence that voters do not believe Mr. Bush has a religious bias.
With wins this week in Virginia, North Dakota and Washington state, Mr. Bush goes into Tuesday's primaries with some momentum. He leads Mr. McCain in delegates, 170 to 105, and Mr. Keyes trails with five.
On Tuesday, 613 delegates - nearly 60 percent of those needed for the Republican presidential nomination - will be awarded.
California, with 162 delegates, is the biggest prize. In that state's winner-take-all primary, the candidate with the most Republican votes will claim all the state's GOP delegates, even if he loses the overall vote.
Mr. McCain, who is banking on broad support from independents and cross-over Democrats, pledged Thursday not to protest the winner-take-all rule if he carries the state but receives no delegates.
"I am a loyal Republican," he said, adding that he will back Mr. Bush if the Texan captures the nomination.
Going into Thursday's debate, Mr. McCain criticized the Bush campaign for running a radio ad in New York suggesting that the senator opposes breast cancer research. Mr. McCain called on his GOP rival to "get out of the gutter."
"I have voted many, many times in favor of breast cancer research," he said.
Mr. McCain said he opposed the programs in question because they were tucked into a Department of Defense bill without any public notice or debate.
Mr. Bush defended his ad, saying specific funding cuts are enumerated on the McCain campaign Web site.
"Mr. McCain is running an angry campaign," the Texas governor said.
The New York ad, narrated by a Long Island woman active in promoting breast cancer research and mentioning a Jewish hospital, was aimed at attracting women and moderate ethnic voters that Mr. Bush risks losing over his visit to Bob Jones University, analysts said.
Also Thursday, Mr. McCain complained about ads in New York, Ohio and California that portray him as opposed to environmental cleanup. They were aired by a group identified only as Republicans for Clean Air. Bush campaign operatives said they had nothing to do with the spots.
McCain aides, however, traced the ads to a longtime aide of New York Gov. George Pataki, a Bush supporter. They noted that the group lists as its address a Virginia post office box that is shared by a political action committee chaired by Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, also a Bush supporter.
"For Bush and Pataki to claim ignorance of these ads is far beyond incredible, it miserably fails the political sniff test," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said.
Mr. Keyes, trailing far behind his GOP rivals in delegates and in the polls, said during the debate that he has been stymied by a "media blackout" that has made it difficult for him to get his conservative message across.
Claiming that he was the "sentimental favorite" among conservative voters, he said to an unseen audience, "You know I'm saying what's in your heart."
Staff writer David Jackson in St. Louis contributed to this report.