Bush Stresses Prosperity and Patriotism in Appeal to California Farmers, Latinos

In the battle of images that is the presidential campaign, George Bush was backed up on Wednesday by a silent chorus--overflowing boxes of apples, nectarines, oranges and grapes--bearing a sunny message.

With his campaign striving to solidify its base of Republicans while holding on to the swing voters who helped elect President Reagan in 1980 and 1984, Bush stood before a veritable cornucopia of California produce to send a message of prosperity to this farming community in the Central Valley.

At the same time, he sought to contrast himself with his Democratic opponent, Michael S. Dukakis, by wrapping himself in the upbeat, patriotic message that worked well for President Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and that, according to polls, can be a determining factor in national elections.

‘On Optimistic Side’

“We’re on the optimistic side,” Bush said at a breakfast meeting with Latino political leaders in Orange. “We’re on the American side. Nobody tells us we can’t get the job done.”

And using trade figures announced earlier in the day in Washington to back up his theme, he said at a rally here that the 25% drop in the nation’s trade deficit, as measured from the second quarter of 1987 to 1988, reflected a trade picture that is turning around “through booming exports, not the trade protectionism that would kill every farmer in the valley.”

Although Bush did not directly state that Dukakis, who says he supports “economic patriotism,” favored strictly protectionist policies, that was the vice president’s implied message.

And he said:

“I suspect that to the stealth candidate with the hidden agenda--you can’t pin him down on the issues--that economic patriotism is a code word for protectionism and no one knows better than the farmers in this valley that protectionism is bad for America.” Dukakis has talked of economic patriotism in terms of reducing the national debt and cutting U.S. dependence on “foreign bankers.”

Emphasis on Diversity

In a day that took Bush from the breakfast in Orange to the farmers in Kingsburg 25 miles south of Fresno, and then to a made-for-television cable car and walking tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown, the emphasis was on the diverse groups that make up the California electorate.

The vice president’s message did not stray from the focus he has placed this week on upbeat economic news.

But he tailored his remarks to his farm audience here, telling a crowd of perhaps 1,000 people at a rally on the grounds of the Sun-Maid Growers of California that he does not support the current boycott protesting the use of certain pesticides on grapes.

“And that’s a big difference between the liberal governor of Massachusetts and the vice president of the United States of America,” he said.

The carefully controlled audience--admitted only with invitations to the fenced grounds--gave Bush an appreciative, but not overly demonstrative, reception.

Echoes Bush Sentiments

Ed Chynoweth of Sanger, who identified himself as a “former soldier, former lawyer and farmer” who grows oranges, plums and table grapes on 150 acres, could have been echoing a Bush stump speech when, even before Bush spoke, he told a reporter: “The Reagan policies have given us at least six years of a growth period, low tax rates, encouraging world trade instead of protectionism.

“I think George Bush is not Ronald Reagan, but he stands for the same things. He’ll stand for less liberal Supreme Court justices (unlike those) whose rulings have been one of the prime reasons for our crime rate,” said Chynoweth, a lanky man wearing a straw cowboy hat and aviator sunglasses in the midday sun.

Another farmer invited to the rally, Mickey George of Dinuba, added: “I feel comfortable with Bush.”

With the focus of the Bush campaign for California’s 47 electoral votes on the swing voters--those without any party affiliation or those whose party ties are so loose that they cannot be counted securely in either column--George would appear to be just the sort who is being targeted by the campaign: Although he is a registered Republican, he said: “I’ve voted for Democrats; I split my ticket.”

To Target Swing Voters

In general, the Bush campaign is working in the state this month to solidify its Republican base and will concentrate more in October on swing voters and on the California Democrats who helped elect Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

Bush is stressing in his public appearances three issues that the campaign feels will play well with the state’s voters: criminal justice, defense and taxes.

“The crime issue is the most important issue in all surveys out here,” said Steve Merksamer, chief of the Bush steering committee in California. Thus, Bush has frequently stressed his support for administering the death penalty in drug-related crimes resulting in the death of a law enforcement officer.

In Orange, Bush presented a two-pronged approach to the Latino political figures, addressing both economic concerns--and seeking to portray the economic conditions over the last five years as particularly favorable to the Latino community--while continuing a theme he has raised in recent days: the need for a bipartisan consensus in foreign policy and the risk that a Dukakis Administration would fail to achieve wide support for its national security views.

Highlighting his message of patriotism, he said a flag company in New Jersey that had found during the Jimmy Carter Administration that “flags weren’t selling well,” now reports that “since we began restoring pride in the United States of America, business has been booming.”