Bush Vows Floor Fight on Tower Nomination : Presidential Advisers in Tokyo Already Planning Strategy for Winning Confirmation by Full Senate

President Bush, stung by the Senate Armed Services Committee’s rejection of former Sen. John Tower as defense secretary, vowed this morning to carry the confirmation battle to the floor of the Senate.

Shortly before leaving his hotel suite to attend the state funeral of Emperor Hirohito, Bush led a hasty discussion of strategy for the floor fight with senior aides--some of whom had been up most of the night in a last-minute effort to salvage what they had long considered a sure victory.

In anticipation of the committee’s action, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater had called a press conference about an hour before the 11-9 vote and said that the President had not lost “one iota of confidence” in his embattled nominee.

Bush believes that Tower will emerge from the ordeal of the nomination fight as a stronger, rather than weaker, defense secretary, Fitzwater said.

Bush had not spoken with Tower by the time he departed for the Hirohito funeral but, according to White House aides, he has no intention of discussing with Tower the possibility of withdrawing the nomination.

The events 7,000 miles away in Washington cast a shadow on a trip intended to introduce the new American President to world leaders gathered for the Hirohito funeral but which, instead, left his senior aides working feverishly on an embarrassing political development. Questions about Tower had, in fact, dogged Bush and his assistants all the way across the Pacific.

In terms of domestic politics, the impact of the committee defeat was magnified by the fact that the White House seems to have been so slow to see it coming. Although Senate Democrats, ambitious to shape defense policy themselves, had always regarded the former GOP senator as an obstacle and had steadily fueled the controversy over his private life, it was only at the last minute that Bush’s inner circle recognized the danger.

Bush had continued to issue confident predictions of Tower’s confirmation, as did his aides, throughout the week. And, according to White House communications director David F. Demarest, it was only in the last 12 hours before the committee vote that the President’s aides became concerned that the panel’s Democrats would vote to scuttle the nomination.

Demarest said that the White House is confident of a solid Republican vote in Tower’s favor on the Senate floor and that the Administration will lobby for enough Democratic support, especially among Southerners, to allow Tower to squeak by. Democrats outnumber Republicans, 55 to 45, in the chamber.

Sununu Called Senators

Bush became concerned about the nomination late Thursday and had White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu begin making telephone calls to senators and others working on behalf of the nomination in Washington.

The President telephoned Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), but Sununu’s pace was portrayed as feverish. Fitzwater said that Sununu made “any number of calls throughout the night and this morning.”

Although the committee vote represented a stunning political setback for Bush, Fitzwater described the President as “very relaxed about this.”

Withdrawal Held Possible

“Sen. Tower is in for the duration, and so is the President. We want to take this to the floor and believe he will be confirmed,” the White House spokesman said.

Despite Fitzwater’s insistence that Bush would carry the fight to the Senate floor, there was widespread speculation among political operatives in Washington that Tower would be prevailed on to withdraw his nomination and rescue the new President from what could become an even more damaging defeat.

Fitzwater insisted that Bush was not surprised by the committee vote because the White House had been kept constantly apprised of developments regarding the nomination.

The spokesman, seeming to draw the battle lines, said that all senators who intend to vote against the nomination “should publicly register their concerns.”

Not Seen as Partisan Issue

Fitzwater said that Bush refused to portray the vote as a partisan issue that would chip away at his effort to conduct national security affairs on a bipartisan basis.

“This is just one vote. We don’t believe this speaks to any larger question of bipartisanship,” said the spokesman, who attributed the timing of the committee’s action to normal work procedures.

Although White House aides in Tokyo refused to ascribe partisan motives to the Democrats, Peter Teeley, a Bush adviser and former press secretary, said in Washington that the committee vote was “not exactly a stand-up performance by the Democrats while the President is in Tokyo, making it difficult for him to communicate and lobby for Tower, especially when he’s there to attend funeral services and meet with other heads of state.”

One Bush adviser said that Tower was a victim of “Chinese water torture.” But he said also that, although he had thought for the last week that Tower would be approved, the FBI report on its investigation of the former senator “apparently was not as cleansing as some people thought.”

That document, delivered to the White House over the weekend, was portrayed by Bush and several top aides as giving Tower “a clean bill of health.”