Bush Evokes Emotional Ties in Swing Through Texas : Assault on Democrats, Reluctance to Name Bentsen Part of Strategy to Capture Key State

As if the repeated introductions as “our Texan” were not enough, George Bush thrust forth Saturday sure evidence of his adopted-son status: black leather cowboy boots imprinted with the flag of Texas, which he showed off with a growling dare.

“Don’t let them tell you I’m not Texan,” he warned. “Take a look at that.”

Here in Texas, the state to which Bush moved in 1948 to work the oil fields, the Republican presidential nominee has spent the last three days reminiscing about the good old days, offering overt and subtle reminders of the emotional ties that bind him to Texas.

And as he seeks the state’s 29 electoral votes with hardened assaults on the Democrats, it is no accident that Bush, in four cities here, has yet to mention the name of the other Texan on a national ticket, Democratic vice presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen.

Avoids Bentsen-Bashing

Bentsen-bashing has been kept to a bare minimum by surrogates as part of a determined effort to keep Texans’ eyes on Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, and not on his more conservative running mate, the Texas senator.

When a gentleman rose in a Texas Republican leadership conference Saturday and blasted Bentsen, Bush’s campaign manager Lee Atwater--usually delighted to encourage such verbal combat--hastily got the meeting back on track.

“This campaign needs to be kept on George Bush versus Michael Dukakis, as best we can,” Atwater said. And in an exaggerated drawl, he added, “Michael Dukakis ain’t never won no statewide election in Texas. And he ain’t never going to win no statewide election in Texas.”

Implicit in the Bush GOP strategy is a recognition that Bentsen is a popular Texan with an esteemed political organization and an added psychic edge of having defeated Bush for a U.S. Senate seat here in 1970.

Texas Democrats also have wasted no time in trying to depict Bush as a carpetbagger here, despite his having lived in Texas from 1948 to 1970, when he moved east to become U.N. ambassador after his loss to Bentsen.

So Bush has actively sought to reinforce his Texas roots as he has traveled across this vast state.

Sought Opportunity, Values

In San Antonio on Thursday, he recalled that he came to his “home state of Texas” because of the independence it promised. “Like so many others who came to this state and are still coming to this state, I was drawn to this state by two things: Texas was a place of big opportunities, a can-do place, and it was strong in the traditional values,” Bush said.

In the East Texas town of Longview on Friday, Bush recalled that he first visited the town while in the oil business in the 1950s, and he proceeded to emphasize his energy policy, a prominent issue for those dependent on the oil industry-based local economy.

“This is a key state and I’m not going to let them take it away from me,” he said in Longview. “It is my state. I’m going to win Texas.”

And in Houston on Saturday, at the GOP leadership meeting where he showed off his boots, Bush greeted Republican activists as “our neighbors” and noted that he had voted in every biannual Texas election since 1948. Houston, where Bush rents a hotel suite that replaced the home he sold in 1970, is the vice president’s legal residence.

Hard Line on Weapons

In Texas, Bush has taken a hard line on his own opposition to gun control and support of a variety of nuclear weapons systems, positions different from his opponent Dukakis.

In a Dallas appearance Saturday, Bush told a reunion of the 2nd Marine Division that there were “enormous differences” between him and Dukakis.

“My opponent says that he would not modernize--no MX, no Midgetman, no flight testing for missiles,” said Bush, ticking off the names of land-based missile systems.

“The United States cannot, out of some naive hope that the Soviets have changed, cut down on our modernization. We will only deter war if the Soviets see us as strong.”

He also belittled Dukakis’ past suggestions that the United Nations should take a greater role in settlement of conflicts in such areas as the Persian Gulf.

“Who would like to serve on a ship out there, Marine or sailor, when you had to wait for the United Nations to get its act together, to tell whether to steam south or steam north or go east or go west or fire or not fire?” the former U.N. ambassador asked.

“The United States cannot assign away its responsibility to lead to the United Nations or any other multilateral organization.”