‘Reagan Country’ Gentry Viewed as ‘Topping on Cake’ : Bush Woos State’s Party Elite

For the first time in five months, Vice President George Bush is campaigning in California. But ordinary voters can’t expect to see much of him.

Bush, with the Republican nomination all but locked away, is in Los Angeles and Palm Springs this weekend raising money and consorting with the gentry of the California GOP--those men and women who built the party’s social and contributor registers here during a quarter-century of dominance by favorite-son Ronald Reagan.

The purpose is to consolidate Bush’s standing in this elite slice of the California party. Call it a step in his passing from GOP contender to GOP nominee-apparent.

‘Topping on Cake’

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that this is Ronald Reagan country,” says Bush regional political director Elieen Padberg. “For the last three and four months, we’ve been getting a lot of Ronald Reagan Kitchen Cabinet types on board. This is the topping on the cake.”

In addition to politics, Bush has in mind sun and relaxing, too.

Only two public events are planned, including a tour of the TRW Space and Defense Research Facility in Redondo Beach this morning and one unannounced appearance. The remainder of the trip is set aside for a Los Angeles fund-raising luncheon today and 1 1/2 private days at Sunnylands, the vast Rancho Mirage estate of Walter H. Annenberg. This has been a New Year’s Eve haven for Reagan and a hideaway for Republican presidents before him.

“Nixon decided on his Cabinet right there,” Annenberg once explained to visitors as they gazed upon a red sofa in the mansion’s “Room of Memories.”

Bush said: “I must confess, I’m anxious to see this place.”

Letting His Thoughts Wander

It is too early, of course, for Bush to think Cabinet, but the signs are abundant that he is letting his thoughts wander, if only occasionally, to the fall general election campaign.

At his Washington headquarters, delegate counters say Bush will be able to solidly claim the 1,139 delegates needed for nomination probably in April, early May at the outside, even in the unexpected event that Kansas Sen. Bob Dole remains in the contest until then.

That would give Bush three months or more before the GOP convention, campaigning in 20 or so primaries--including California’s June 7--without a contest for the nomination.

“I’d like to have that time to think through the campaign for the fall, to work closely with people on the issues for the fall and possibly to do more visible work as vice president,” Bush told reporters.

” . . . We might try to step up the visibility of that in terms of drug interdiction or in terms of foreign travel.”

Drug interdiction is a reference to Bush’s role as head of two federal anti-drug panels. Foreign travel, of course, has been a mainstay of Bush’s 7 1/2 years as vice president.

It’s Full Steam Ahead

At the same time, campaigning will continue full bore, Bush aides insist.

“We’re going at it (in California) as if we need the 175 delegates (at stake in the primary),” Padberg said. “Or, if we don’t, it will be a dry run for the fall.”

Bush supporters are trying to shake all remaining neutrals off the fence--and right now that means tightening the pressure on Gov. George Deukmejian to offer his endorsement. The governor has said he will wait until after the California primary. But some Bush supporters are seeking to change his mind.

“How do I put this--the governor is getting a lot of encouragement to endorse the vice president,” Padberg said. “There is a lot of discussion by those who feel it would be more important now for the governor to speak up now than to wait.”

State Republican Party Chairman Robert W. Naylor, who is neutral, says the governor might be listening.

Naylor noted that New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean jumped on the Bush bandwagon this week. “I suppose when you see Gov. Kean’s picture in the paper, it becomes more and more painful to be the last on board,” he said.

Danger of Being Eclipsed

Some Bush advisers, along with political professionals outside the campaign, believe the vice president has a challenge ahead in keeping from being eclipsed in the public eye by the Democrats. How do you keep volunteers interested when the suspense is gone? How do you keep voters interested?

On the other hand, strategists like Richard N. Bond, deputy campaign manager and political director of the campaign, say that Bush can effectively use the remaining primaries to build “a following wind to head into the general election.”

Key Voting Yet to Come

It so happens, Bond said, that a whole string of the critical general election states for Republicans have yet to vote in the primaries.

“There are now 22 primaries left. Of these, 16 have voted Republican in presidential races for 20 years,” Bond said.

These states, which include California, are identified in the Bush campaign manual as “the potential GOP base,” and they add up to two-thirds the number of electoral votes to win the presidency.

“It’s an unexpected bonus that things worked out this way,” Bond said. “We can start early preaching party unity, lay the groundwork for general election organizing and start boxing the Democrats in as the tax-and-spend and weak-on-defense party which has kept them trapped for years.”

Meanwhile, the Bush campaign already is moving to take control of the Republican National Convention in New Orleans from Aug. 15-18.

“There is a lot of delicate planning,” Bond said. “Reagan is leaving; Bush is coming. We can’t let the Bush thing overwhelm Reagan. But we can’t let Reagan overwhelm us.”

Looking beyond the convention, the campaign has notified state party officials across the country of its interest in obtaining their localized plans for voter registration and get out the vote drives for the general election.

First to Respond

This week, California became the first state to reply. Among other things, GOP leaders say they are prepared to help the ticket by trying to register 600,000 new GOP voters--which would be nearly a 13% increase.

The Bush general election game plan also includes intricate budgeting for the nearly $57 million it will have for the general election, $47.7 million from the U.S. Treasury and $8.8 million from the national party. No private financing is allowed.

For this weekend, however, Bush’s eye is on the last $1.5 million or so he is permitted to raise under federal limits for the primary campaign. Today’s Los Angeles fund-raiser carries a $1,000-per-person price tag with 300 people expected. An evening affair at the Annenberg’s is for 200 friends and select contributors who have given the maximum $2,000 each and also were responsible for obtaining another $25,000 from other contributors.