Reagan to Stress Ideological Message in 15-City Stump

President Reagan plans to visit as many as 15 U.S. cities this fall to campaign on Vice President George Bush’s behalf, carrying an “ideological” message drawing sharp distinctions between the two parties, the White House said Monday.

Reagan will devote two days a week to promoting the Bush-Quayle ticket, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. He will not concentrate on any particular region or voter group but rather will defend his record and attack the Democrats.

Reagan will be following the pattern set at last week’s Republican National Convention, where he blistered the Democrats while leaving the high road to Bush.

Cites Focus on California

“The thrust of the President’s activities will be more ideological than they will be geographic,” Fitzwater said. “Obviously, he’s doing a number of things in California. That’s his home state. It’s felt he can be very helpful here.”

The President’s focus in campaign appearances this fall will be the successes of his Administration’s economic and foreign policies, “and we think they’ll play in all parts of the country,” Fitzwater said.

“The main theme will be to draw the distinction between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans,” Fitzwater said at a briefing here Monday. “The feeling is that no one is better than Ronald Reagan at talking about the achievements of the last 7 1/2 years, drawing distinctions between economic growth and job creation and prosperity and contrasting that with the Democratic programs of the ‘70s.”

As he did in New Orleans, Reagan will portray the Democrats as spendthrifts at home and weaklings abroad. At a rally kicking off the GOP convention, Reagan accused Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis of conducting a “stealth” campaign, disguising his “liberal, liberal, liberal” agenda.

In the New Orleans speech, Reagan used the “L” word--liberal--as an expletive and he plans to continue doing so, White House aides said.

‘Peace Through Strength’

Fitzwater said Monday that Reagan “will talk about peace through strength, why a strong military forced the Soviets to the bargaining table, and resulted in arms control agreements of unprecedented proportions--and contrast that with the Democratic opposition’s military stance of reduction in strength, pulling troops out of various places around the world, and so forth.”

Reagan’s first postconvention appearance on behalf of the Republican ticket will be Wednesday in Los Angeles, where he will address a noon GOP rally at the Century Plaza Hotel. Before the public appearance, however, he will meet privately with the vice president to discuss campaign strategy, Fitzwater said.

The President and the candidate will also meet privately with California organizers and fund-raisers, the spokesman said.

The Los Angeles rally has been planned for several months, growing out of a series of meetings between senior Reagan and Bush advisers. Kenneth M. Duberstein, Reagan’s chief of staff, meets regularly with top Bush aide Craig Fuller to plot political strategy.

Reagan still has not commented on the continuing controversy over the military record of Bush’s running mate, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle.

Quayle’s influential family allegedly pulled strings to get him into the Indiana National Guard in 1969, thus avoiding combat duty in Vietnam.

Reagan Praises Quayle

In his radio address Saturday, the President praised Quayle’s “energy and enthusiasm” and said he was a good choice for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket.

On Monday, Fitzwater declined to answer questions about Quayle, saying: “I think it is a media story that just doesn’t deserve comment.”

When asked whether Reagan thought that Quayle should be dropped from the ticket, Fitzwater responded: “Get serious. . . . It’s never been a question. It’s not a relevant question.”

Fitzwater also grudgingly praised Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, Dukakis’ running mate, for his leadership on trade legislation that the President plans to sign today at a ceremony in Long Beach.

“Bentsen did a good job on this. He worked on it a lot of years and so did we,” Fitzwater said.