Laura Bush says husband holds no bias

<small><b>``To be charged with a charge like this is really the very worst part of politics,'' she says of the allegations of anti-Catholicism that have haunted George W. Bush since his stop at

Friday, March 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

``To be charged with a charge like this is really the very worst part of politics,'' she says of the allegations of anti-Catholicism that have haunted George W. Bush since his stop at Bob Jones University.

PROVIDENCE -- Laura Bush, wife of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, made a campaign stop in Providence yesterday for her husband, joining Governor Almond in this heavily Catholic state and mounting a spirited defense of Bush's religious views.

A hot debate about religion erupted over the GOP primary campaign last month when U.S. Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, Bush's opponent, began highlighting a Bush campaign visit to ultraconservative Bob Jones University in South Carolina.

Officials and students at Bob Jones University have expressed virulent anti-Catholic views and have likened the pope to the antichrist.

Laura Bush, who stood with her husband at Bob Jones when he visited, said yesterday that her husband's appearance there does not align him with the school's anti-Catholic bias or, for that matter, its controversial ban on interracial dating.

``George was not associated with that university in any way,'' she told reporters. ``He has many, many Catholic friends and supporters, as well as a Catholic brother [Florida Gov. Jeb Bush] and sister-in-law.

``To be charged with a charge like this is really the very worst part of politics,'' she said. She said her husband was unfairly tarred with ``guilt by association.''

McCain and Bush have waged a tough battle for the Republican nomination, with McCain trying to broaden his appeal to independents and cross-over Democrats and Bush trying to hold the conservative base together. Issues of religion and class have bubbled up in the campaign again and again.

The Arizona senator has not directly accused Bush of anti-Catholic bias. But after Bush won the Feb. 19 South Carolina primary with his appeals to Christian conservatives, the McCain campaign sponsored ``Catholic Alert'' telephone calls to voters in Michigan that criticized the Texas governor for failing to distance himself from Bob Jones University's radical views.

The calls helped fuel a wave of publicity about the Bob Jones visit, and Michigan tipped to McCain.

Some Republican leaders, including U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, have said that Bush's appeals to Christian conservatives have hurt him in the relatively moderate New England states, which are part of next week's 11-state primary vote known as Super Tuesday.

Polls in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have indicated McCain could duplicate the walloping he gave Bush in New Hampshire a month ago.

And Bush began tapering his effort yesterday in New England. He dropped his only scheduled visit to the region -- a stop at Fairfield University in Connecticut, a Catholic school, that had been set for this morning -- in favor of a solid day of New York campaigning today.

The Yankee states he left to his wife.

Laura Bush's two-day tour of the region began yesterday in South Providence, with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Habitat for Humanity house. (She was also to campaign in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, where the Bush family has a summer house.) Governor Almond and his wife, Marilyn, welcomed the Texas first lady in a reception tent at the corner of Niagara and Mitchell Streets. James Bennett, Bush's Rhode Island chairman, was among the smattering of Republicans in a crowd loaded with Habitat for Humanity board members and volunteers.

Afterward, when a reporter asked Laura Bush about the New England race, Almond jumped in.

``George Bush is very, very popular in New England,'' the governor said. ``His father was a very popular president.

``Anyone who knows the Bush family knows that any religious charges relative to being anti-Catholic is just -- let me tell you, I have not said one thing about Senator McCain since I endorsed George Bush a year ago last January,'' Almond said. ``But the last week has ... bothered me.''

Almond predicted a backlash against McCain and said he believes Bush will win in New England.

Laura Bush said she regrets the ``recent turn'' toward negativity in the campaign. Overlooking the Bush telephone calls, negative commercials, and McCain-bashing by Bush surrogates, she blamed the Arizona senator for the tenor of the debate.

``This is just a fact of life in politics,'' she said. ``Your opponent is going to tear you down so he can build himself up.''