POLITICS 88 : Bush, in Wake of Victory, Calls for Republican Unity

Vice President George Bush claimed his overwhelming Super Tuesday victory with a call for national Republican unity behind his flourishing candidacy.

“For all of us, this is a big, a major political victory but it is a national victory,” Bush told a crowd of supporters at the Westin Oaks hotel here, “not a victory so much for me personally as for the themes we’ve been discussing in the North, the South, the East and the West.”

Bush claimed more than 570 delegates of the 712 available on the biggest day in the political calendar. By late Tuesday, he appeared to have swept 16 of the 17 GOP Super Tuesday states.

As he embraced his victory, Bush set the themes not only for the remaining primary contests, but also for the general election, an election for which Super Tuesday may have ensured him a starring role.

“Reducing the threat of war is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, it’s a national issue, an American issue,” Bush declared.

“We’re a compassionate country and let’s not forget it. . . . When people are hurting we must respond. We must lend a hand.

“My message is going to continue to be one of hope. . . . America’s best days, I am convinced, lie ahead.”

Bush’s Super Tuesday triumph came exactly a month after his campaign’s lowest ebb, a devastating third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. In the intervening four weeks, Bush has evolved into a more forceful candidate, although his recent strategy has been to favor photo opportunities over substance.

Bush’s confidence in his chances of gaining the nomination seemed to hinge on the Super Tuesday contests, and in recent days he emphasized the primary day’s importance.

“As I said yesterday, whoever wins Super Tuesday convincingly is going to be the next President and I’ll repeat it, I’m going to be the next President,” Bush said Tuesday night, to the cheers of supporters who waved American and Texas flags.

Bush’s Southern campaign leaned heavily on his ties in Tuesday’s state with the most delegates, Texas, and on his endorsements by five of the Super Tuesday states’ governors and dozens of members of Congress, and on the loyalty of Republican regulars.

Playing to the more conservative nature of Southern voters, Bush laced his message here with strong anti-communist references, insistence that his Administration would keep the American military strong and reminders of his loyalty to President Reagan.

The strength of the victory gives Bush an enormous edge in convention delegates as well as momentum against the flagging efforts of his major competitor, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole.

Although Bush has declined to comment on Dole’s chances of remaining a force in the race after the Super Tuesday losses, his aides clearly hope that Tuesday’s results--and a victory in Illinois next week--could ice the nomination for the vice president.

‘No Place to Go Now’

“Bob Dole is on the canvas,” said Bush’s deputy campaign manager, Rich Bond. “He’s got no place to go now.

“It’s kind of put up or shut up time.”

While Bond and campaign media consultant Roger Ailes watched news accounts Tuesday evening, one network reported that Dole was laying off some campaign workers and cutting the salaries of others.

“It’s resume-typing time over there,” Ailes said.

Although Dole--and next Tuesday’s Illinois primary--remain the focus of Bush’s strategies, Bush appears increasingly to be considering a face-off with the Democrats in the general election.

He swatted at Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis at an Alabama appearance last week and has added a generalized slap at the Democrats to his stump speech.

“Whoever wins the Republican nomination is going to be President because I don’t see anything on the Democratic side to be concerned about at all,” Bush told supporters Sunday at Kansas City International Airport. “We’re going to beat them and beat them good.”