Dukakis Views Quayle as Key Campaign Issue : Bush Derides Foe’s Reversal on ‘Liberal’

Portraying opponent Michael S. Dukakis as a man at war with himself in these climactic days of the 1988 presidential race, George Bush cried out, “Headlines! Read all about it!” at the latest twist in the long and overheated campaign clash with Dukakis about the “big L-word.”

“Miracle of miracles. . . . He’s using the liberal label again,” Republican presidential nominee Bush declared on his arrival at a rally in Louisville, Ky.

Dukakis on Sunday had suddenly re-claimed the designation “liberal,” a term he had avoided since the primaries, and said he would now defend the liberal traditions of the Democratic Party against relentless Bush attacks.

Three-City Day

The reversal brought derision from Bush during his two-state, three-city campaign day.

Brushing off Dukakis’ call for a final debate of the presidential candidates, Bush said: “If we want a debate, we should debate Dukakis versus Dukakis.” He used the line at a rally of 800 supporters in Louisville and again before 1,500 in St. Louis and 2,200 here. “The New Left versus the Old Left.”

His tone laced with vinegar, Bush said Dukakis, on one hand, could rail against campaign labels as the Democratic candidate did in the second presidential debate. “Then the new guy could come up and say, yes, I’m a liberal,” Bush suggested.

Likewise, Bush described one Dukakis who “could claim to be on the side of ordinary Americans.

“And the other could explain if he thinks ordinary Americans oppose the death penalty for drug kingpins like he does, and favor these weekend furloughs for first-degree murderers as he does . . . (and) oppose asking teachers to lead the kids in the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Dukakis versus Dukakis. What a debate it could be!”

The vice president carried his Dukakis versus Dukakis analogy into foreign affairs as horns blared and the faithful cheered.

“The governor of Massachusetts could suddenly pretend to be in the tradition that is prepared to use force to defend freedom.

Grenada, Kadafi

“But the other governor of Massachusetts could explain why he failed to support that needed military action in Grenada or the action against that terrorist Moammar Kadafi or why he has opposed every weapons system to modernize our defenses.

“What a debate!”

Bush’s trip to Kentucky and Missouri occurred as senior advisers spread word that the campaign is not detecting any hemorrhaging of Bush support.

Dukakis and the Democrats have been claiming a significant come-from-behind surge for several days, and some polling released during the weekend seemed to back them up.

“There is no surge,” said Bush Press Secretary Sheila Tate.

Slippage ‘Stabilized’

Bush Chief of Staff Craig Fuller acknowledged that front-running Bush had slipped a little last week in his own polls. “But it has stabilized now,” he said.

Campaign pollster Robert S. Teeter said internal surveys had shown renewed gains in the last two days.

It was difficult to determine just how pleased Bush really was to engage in the long-distance campaign debate over liberalism.

So far, the vice president has accumulated his political mileage chasing Dukakis across the nation as if the word liberal was the death rattle of the Democratic Party. Now, however, Dukakis seems to be stirring up traditional Democratic support with an us-versus-them campaign of working-class populism. And in this context, liberalism as symbolized by Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt may not be such an uncomfortable burden to bear.

Little Pull Seen

If this latest liberal name game stands to help Dukakis with his core of support, Bush operatives assured themselves that it would have little pull on swing voters.

“I don’t think the swing Democrats are going to be moved by a label,” said Chief of Staff Fuller. “What moves the swing Democrats is strong law-and-order positions, experienced foreign policy, not raising people’s taxes.”

Just in case, though, Bush went out of his way to make a strong, direct and personal appeal to the uncertain, swing Democrat, the so-called Reagan Democrat:

“A lot of mainstream Americans no longer feel represented by the Democratic Party. . . . So my pitch here in the last eight days is to those good Democrats, the rank and file, the silent majority. I tell them, have hope, have confidence.”

New Commercial

The campaign also began airing a new commercial Monday on the he’s-a-liberal theme.

It says Dukakis “would carry on the traditions,” not of Kennedy or Truman or Roosevelt, but of Democrats Jimmy Carter, George S. McGovern and Walter F. Mondale.

At his appearances in Louisville, St. Louis and Kansas City, Bush was greeted by unexpectedly small, tightly screened crowds. This reflected a campaign policy to minimize the chance of hecklers and demonstrators--making up for relatively sparse numbers of supporters with the artificial excitement of ear-piercing public address systems, colorful backdrops and amplified live bands.

Some things, though, defy even the mightiest management efforts of the campaign. And so it was with Bush’s traveling press corps Monday.

Halloween Pig Masks

For more than two weeks, Bush has studiously avoided press conferences or encounters with groups of reporters, other than some television appearances--he was interviewed by Tom Brokaw on “NBC Nightly News” on Monday night. But he could not resist a few friendly words when he disembarked from his Air Force jet in St. Louis with twin 6-year-old granddaughters Jenna and Barbara to see his press corps lined up wearing a colorful array of Halloween pig masks.

This was in honor of a visit Bush made in September to Disneyland. There, he joked that one of the Three Little Pigs “was bugging me. He just kept staring at me with this expression. My word of honor.”

Reporters chanted, “No more pork rinds!” in a reference to Bush’s favorite snack.

“Keep on wearing them. It’s a real statement,” Bush said with a smile. Then he added, as he ducked into his armored limousine: “This is my 208th press conference. Thank you very much.”

Staff writer Cathleen Decker contributed to this story.