Bush Fighting To Maintain Governors' Support

Saturday, February 26th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON - A year ago, Gov. George W. Bush was the talk of the nation's governors as he began corralling the support of fellow Republicans for his still-unannounced presidential campaign.

Now, as the governors gather again for their annual winter conference, Mr. Bush is campaigning hard to reclaim the front-runner status in his race against Sen. John McCain.

And in what has evolved into a bitter battle of negative ads and innuendo, the chairman of the Republican Governors' Association suggested the Bush campaign may have lost its stride.

"Where's the message? What does George Bush stand for? Who is he?" asked North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer. "That's not filtering through."

Mr. Bush had planned to meet with the Republican governors over dinner Monday night. But he changed gears to campaign in Washington state, where Mr. McCain is making a stand before Tuesday's GOP primary.

Instead of Mr. Bush, Mr. Schafer said, he expects several of the campaign's finance aides to huddle with the governors.

Nearly all 30 Republican governors have formally endorsed Mr. Bush, and Mr. Schafer says he expects no defections after Mr. Bush's losses Tuesday in Michigan and Arizona. But the North Dakota governor accepted some of the blame.

"We're off-message" Mr. Schafer said. "We're sitting there fighting about who's the most negative." "Where's the message of the compassionate conservative, or the reformer with the results?"

Mr. Bush has shrugged off his loss in Michigan as a "glancing blow," and his top aides have said they plan no major shift in their campaign strategy.

Still, there is second-guessing among key supporters. Some, like Mr. Schafer, wonder about the clarity of the Bush message. Others wonder what happened to the more than $70 million Mr. Bush has raised. Most of it has been spent already, including about $2 million in Arizona, where Mr. McCain won handily on a shoestring budget in his home state.

"It's a lot of money," Illinois Gov. George Ryan said of reports that Mr. Bush may have already spent $60 million. "I would have hoped he spent it wisely, but who knows?"

Mr. Bush is raising more money again. "We're in pretty good shape," he said Friday during a campaign swing through Virginia.

But raising the money is not so easy now. Many individual contributors already have given Mr. Bush the $1,000 maximum allowed under federal law, and others are having second thoughts.

In Michigan and Arizona, Mr. Bush had the energetic support of the Republican governors, John Engler and Jane Dee Hull, respectively. But, clearly, more was needed, Mr. Schafer told reporters Friday.

"We said, 'Hey, let's go put our political organizations behind Governor Bush and get the job done,' " Mr. Schafer said. "But that was not good enough."
Mr. Schafer said he was in Arizona for Tuesday's primary and had talked to Mr. Bush on Wednesday. He said he had also conferred several times by phone with Mr. Bush's campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh.

Mr. Schafer said Mr. Allbaugh has been saying: "We've got to let George Bush be George Bush. We've got to get him out there, get him with the people."

In Austin, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Mr. Bush remained confident of the backing of the Republican governors.

"Those who know him best - the governors - are strongly behind his record of reform with results and his compassionate conservative agenda," Mr. McClellan said.

On Tuesday, voters will go to the polls in Republican primaries in Washington and Virginia and attend caucuses in North Dakota. On March 7, another dozen states vote, with six more on March 14.

And on March 21, Illinois voters go to the polls.

"I would hope that he's got it tied up by then," Mr. Ryan said of Mr. Bush. "But we'll have to wait and see."