Only a ‘Major Event’ Can Derail Bush: White House : Reagan Still Not Ready to Endorse

White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker said today that “it would take a major event” to prevent George Bush from winning the Republican presidential nomination but that President Reagan is not ready to endorse anyone.

“The President is still neutral and I expect will continue that way for the foreseeable future,” Baker said, talking with reporters at the White House after seeing Reagan off on a trip to Indiana.

Vice President Bush scored a sweep of the Super Tuesday primaries, moving within reach of the GOP presidential nomination.

“He was the front-runner before and clearly is the front-runner now,” Baker said. “I think it would take a major event to deny him the nomination. He’s certainly got the momentum.”

‘Have to Wait and See’

Baker, who dropped out of the presidential race a year ago to lead Reagan’s staff, said the last word he had from Reagan was that as the titular head of the Republican Party, he intends to remain neutral.

“And whether he would re-address that in light of other circumstances, we’ll have to wait and see but I have no indication of it,” the former senator said.

Baker said Reagan is “awful pleased with the exit polls,” which showed an 84% approval rating for the President among Republican voters in the South.

“I told him this morning . . . he was really the one who swept the South,” Baker said. “I think that was a matter of pride for the President.”

‘Impressed With Turnout’

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, traveling with Reagan aboard Air Force One to South Bend, Ind., also described the President as “very impressed with the Republican turnout.”

“We have a strong movement toward the Republican Party in the South,” Fitzwater said. He called it a “strong indication of the realignment that’s taken place” in the region.

Citing Texas as an example, Fitzwater said that 500,000 people voted on the GOP side during the primary season in 1980 and that 900,000 voted in the GOP ranks in 1988.

Baker said the overall Republican voter turnout was about 44% of the total vote cast Tuesday.

‘Far Cry From Solid South’

“So that’s a far cry from the old Democratic solid South, and that may be the most significant single aspect of Super Tuesday,” Baker said.

He said the GOP turnout “indicates that the Reagan revolution and the Republican growth in the South is not a transient phenomenon but is a permanent fixture in the American political system.”

Commenting on the outcome on the Democratic side, Baker singled out the success of fellow Tennessean Albert Gore Jr., who won his own state and four other Southern primaries.

“Al Gore may have demolished the theory that you’ve got to run in Iowa and New Hampshire. He is a very credible candidate and he did not make a major effort in Iowa and New Hampshire,” Baker said.