Bush, Dole Order Staffs Not to Spread Rumors, Aides Say

Vice President George Bush and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas have agreed to order their campaign staffs to stop trading accusations about Bush’s private life and rumor-mongering, aides to both Republican presidential contenders said Tuesday.

Lee Atwater, Bush’s campaign manager, and David Keene, a top adviser to Dole, said the campaigns will observe the Republican 11th Commandment: Never speak ill of another Republican.

“The vice president and Sen. Dole have talked and have decided just to forget about all that, keep campaigning and stick to the 11th Commandment,” Atwater said. “The sign of a good campaign is, when any kind of scrape comes up, the candidates can talk, put it to rest and keep moving. That’s what we’ve decided to do.”

“I think that’s right,” Keene said. “We hope this campaign will be decided on the issues. For those involved in campaigns . . . there is a tendency to involve themselves in peripheral or personal issues that are not really basic to the decision that the American people have to make.”

The campaign aides spoke at a panel sponsored by Atlantic Monthly magazine on the 1988 Republican presidential race.

In recent weeks, rumors swept Washington about a long-term affair that Bush allegedly had with a female staff member or with the wife of a prominent supporter.

The Dole campaign was accused of being one of the major sources of the rumors about Bush. The vice president has denied the rumors.