Nominee Pursues Light Campaign Schedule : Quayle Remains Confident, Rejects Polls

Distancing himself from the “nervous Nellies” in Republican headquarters, vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle campaigned at a leisurely pace Saturday near his Washington home, untroubled by winter weather that kept crowds away from final-weekend rallies.

With the wind gusting and rain driving down, this was a day ruined by what Quayle calls “Dukakis weather--dark clouds and gloomy skies.” But the Indiana senator remained cheery, predicting that “the sun is going to shine on George Bush and America on Election Day.”

Asked about polls showing that Michael S. Dukakis may be closing the gap in major states, Quayle said: “I’m sure there are some nervous Nellies in the campaign. But George Bush is not jittery and Dan Quayle is not jittery. We’re going to continue campaigning as hard as we can.”

Quayle dished up the same sort of homestretch pep talk at a Charleston, W. Va., rally that had been moved hastily inside the West Virginia Statehouse. “Three days to go,” he reminded supporters. “Three hard days . . . three long days.”

Joined by Family

But there was no sign that Quayle was taking his admonition literally. On a day neither long nor hard, Quayle was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Marilyn, and their three children. He delivered a pair of speeches, paid a visit to two county headquarters, and, even though delayed by rain at several points, was home not long after 6 p.m.

Quayle will spend only half of today campaigning, and aides acknowledge that the schedule reflects an effort to reduce the risk that Quayle might make mistakes in the campaign’s final days. But even with the lighter load, the vice presidential nominee’s rambling remarks here left heads shaking.

“Let me tell you something,” he told a small crowd at Valley View Farms, a garden center and produce market in this Baltimore suburb. “As we were walking around in the store, Marilyn and I were just really impressed by all the novelties and the different types of little things that you could get for Christmas.

“And all the people that would help you, they were dressed up in things that said, ‘I believe in Santa Claus.’ And the only thing I could think is that I believe in George Bush.”

Not Ashamed of Role

Earlier, Quayle told reporters that he was “absolutely not” ashamed of the minimal role he had been accorded in the campaign’s final days. “The focus is going to be on Michael Dukakis and George Bush,” he said. “That’s who the American people are going to decide who’s going to be the next President.

“It wouldn’t make any difference whether I had two or 16 events,” Quayle said. “The American people are going to focus on the top of the ticket.”

In keeping with that strategy, Quayle was dispatched to West Virginia on Saturday primarily to provide a boost to the reelection campaign of Republican Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., who is trailing in the polls.

An old-school politician whose reputation has been tainted by charges of corruption at several points in his long career, Moore offered Quayle an unusual favor in return:

“Senator,” he said, “we’re going to make you and Mrs. Quayle honorary citizens. Which means that any parking ticket you get, I can fix it.”