Politics 88 : White House Advisers Split Bitterly Over GOP Hopefuls

The trench warfare erupting between Republican presidential candidates throughout the South a week before the Super Tuesday primary election is reaching into the White House, sowing bitterness between rival camps supporting Vice President George Bush and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole.

Although President Reagan adheres to his pledge to remain neutral--at least in terms of not publicly siding with any candidate--his most senior advisers working just yards away from his Oval Office and the office occupied by Bush are deeply divided.

The division in the West Wing, the business end of the White House, has led--more than ever--to hushed conversations behind closed doors, to protect the confidentiality of tactical information as some of the most political animals in Washington hash out poll results, campaign ideas and plain old political gossip while carrying out their duties as the Reagan presidency winds down.

Other Evidence of Impact

And the impact of the campaign can be seen in other ways too:

--A career foreign service employee complains privately that Bush supporters who are political appointees are being thwarted when job openings occur because allies of Dole control personnel matters.

--A member of Reagan’s inner circle who has otherwise tried meticulously to keep a foot in both camps drops his guard in a conversation with colleagues and cracks that perhaps Bush--whose previous job titles have included congressman, party chairman, ambassador and director of central intelligence--wants to be President because “it will look good on his resume.”

--A Bush ally on the Reagan staff argues successfully that the President’s annual written State of the Union message to Congress, longer than the speech he delivers, must include a passage in favor of college savings bonds, an element in Bush’s political program intended to support his assertion that he would be the “education President” by helping parents save for college tuition. It has never been part of Reagan’s program because it was assessed as a net revenue loss.

Reagan’s reaction? “If that’s what George wants, we’ll leave it in there. I’m not going to have to deal with it,” a senior presidential assistant recalled, adding that “George was adamant.”

But the Bush ally was unsuccessful when he tried to include in the same message a nod of presidential support for making Puerto Rico--where the vice president has long found political favor--the 51st state. The proposal was excised by a Dole supporter in the West Wing.

Indeed, the intraparty rivalry in the West Wing, some sources said, has reached the level just below the President: Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. is known throughout the White House as an ally of Dole, who took over as the Senate Republican leader when Baker retired from the Senate.

‘Won’t Even Give You a Wink’

But, a 20-year associate of Baker insists, efforts to draw the staff chief out on political preferences are useless. “Many of us have been courted by both the Bush and Dole campaigns. When you go to ask Baker what he thinks, he won’t even give you a wink or an eyelash about what he wants you to do,” the friend said.

Baker’s office in the southwest corner of the White House abuts the vice president’s suite, occupied only rarely these days while Bush spends most of his time struggling with Dole for support in the 17 states choosing delegates on March 8 for next August’s Republican nominating convention.

How do Baker and Bush get along?

“They pass pleasantries; that’s about it,” said a White House aide--albeit a Dole partisan--who is in a position to observe both men. A Bush ally, who held a senior-level White House job during Reagan’s first term, said he saw no evidence of outright partisanship by Baker. But he said: “I’m not aware of any warm friendship” between Baker and the vice president.

Several sources said the apparent ill will that exists between Baker and Bush dates from the 1980 primary campaign, when both fought unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination. Baker pulled out in midstream and endorsed Reagan, the ultimate victor, while Bush struggled on until the end of the primary campaign.

Reagan Held Unaware of Division

“There are people who feel” that Baker is trying to undercut Bush, said a former White House official who is now close to the Bush campaign organization. But he said the vice president discounted such suggestions as “malicious.” And a senior White House official said Reagan remains unaware of the division in his staff.

An informal survey of West Wing workers finds the team of senior advisers who arrived with Baker, when the former senator from Tennessee replaced Donald T. Regan as staff chief, favoring Dole, like their boss. A perhaps smaller group supports Bush and others--among the most conservative--feel dissatisfied with either of the two and are sitting on the sidelines.

As evidence of the Baker staff’s support for Dole, Bush partisans cite Dole’s visit to the White House on Dec. 18, when he endorsed the U.S.-Soviet medium-range arms control treaty with Reagan standing awkwardly at his side in the White House press briefing room.

White House aides involved in setting up the visit argue that it was a small price to pay to be assured of the support of the Senate minority leader in the upcoming Senate debate over the treaty. However, even Bush raised complaints privately about the publicity Dole received, White House officials said.

Political Ramifications Examined

As a result, these officials said they are taking particular care to examine the potential political ramifications of every action.

After Dole publicized a letter Reagan dispatched to him voicing appreciation for the senator’s support of an unsuccessful legislative effort seeking to renew aid for the anti-Sandinista Contra forces, the White House made public a picture of Bush having lunch with the President.

The vice president had asked that the picture be made public, a White House official said, but at least three senior officials, over the course of several hours, became involved in the decision, to determine “if the picture goes out, will it be viewed as getting (Reagan) in the middle of the presidential race?” one of the officials said.

So far, White House officials said, the campaign battle has not hampered their ability to get their jobs done. “But from the point of people looking at you under a microscope, it does affect things here,” said one senior Reagan aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“Everything you do, somebody’s out there trying to second-guess you. You scrub things as pretty close as you can” to maintain an aura of neutrality, he said.

Reagan Won’t State Preference

And, although the President has gone so far as to praise Bush’s loyalty and his service as vice president, he has resisted all entreaties to state publicly his preference for the GOP nomination.

After one recent Dole-Bush dust-up, he was asked while posing for photographers at the start of a congressional meeting whether he would summon the two to the White House for a lesson on what he calls the “11th commandment,” forbidding Republicans to speak ill of each other.

“I’m not going to talk about anything but the budget,” the President replied.

Even the President’s indirect role in the Southern primaries has been extremely limited: He met last week with Republican state chairmen from the South and he spent a few hours last month in Durham, N.C., at an anti-drug seminar at Duke University.