Governors Confront Bush on Fiscal Package : Economy: Attack by visiting Democrats angers the President. Public’s response is less than enthusiastic.

The White House, caught off guard by attacks on President Bush’s economic package, found itself on the defensive Monday as Bush was confronted by visiting Democratic governors who spurned his request that they rally behind his plan.

The unexpected face-to-face ambush and a less-than-enthusiastic public response to the proposal added a new worrying note to the calculations of Bush advisers who had hoped that the unveiling of the long-awaited package would spark a rebound in the President’s political fortunes.

Instead--as Colorado Gov. Roy Romer stunned an East Room session by assailing what he called White House “gimmickry”--a visibly angry Bush fired back:

“What do you think we ought to do?” and demanded that the governor “be specific.”

The disruption of what the White House had hoped would be a congenial session set off a charged partisan debate as Republican governors stood up to defend Bush while other Democrats denounced a plan that one officeholder said favored the rich and would add to “a sewer of debt.”

But similar criticism over the weekend by a member of Bush’s own Cabinet had left White House aides already discomfited. And with polls showing that his State of the Union speech did little to arrest a plunge in Bush’s popularity, his chief spokesman was forced to concede that public reaction to the plan had been no more than “mixed.”

Among the new surveys was an ABC/Washington Post poll that found most of its respondents did not believe they would benefit from Bush’s economic plan, which consists mainly of anti-recession tax cuts. Seven of 10 of those polled do not believe Bush’s economic plan goes far enough, according to the poll.

A Time magazine poll made public over the weekend put Bush’s approval rating at just 44%, its lowest level in that survey since he took office three years ago. And a study by Public Opinion Strategies after the State of the Union address found that 78% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.

Earlier, Bush had suggested response to his plan was favorable. But White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater acknowledged that while there are “a lot of people for it” there are also “a lot of people against it.”

Fitzwater blamed Bush’s continued lackluster showing on the “slow and low and flat and sluggish behavior of the economy” and insisted that his advisers had never expected “any overnight miracles” from the State of the Union address.

The spokesman could offer little solace for victims of economic distress. “The only thing that’s going to make you feel good is if you get a check or a job,” he said of the unemployed, “and, unfortunately, these things are not going to happen overnight.”

Bush was clearly caught by surprise as well in his White House meeting with the governors, who were in town for their annual meeting and had been expected to follow established etiquette of voicing criticism only in private.

But the President appeared to misgauge his audience as he proclaimed that his plan “does not raise the federal deficit,” while in fact it would increase the deficit by $14 billion in fiscal 1992 alone, according to the Administration budget submitted last week. And although he was speaking before a bipartisan group, he told the governors that his “bottom line” is that he needs their help in persuading Congress to endorse his economic growth package.

Before taking questions, Bush paused while his aides began to usher a small group of reporters from the room. Instead, Romer, the incoming chairman of the National Governors Assn., abruptly interjected to demand that the press return to witness the exchange.

“We ought not pose this meeting . . . as how can we as governors help you go to Congress and convince them that your approach alone is the only approach,” Romer said, saying that he was speaking on behalf of other Democratic governors. “There are other approaches and we ought to, as governors, recognize that.”

The Colorado governor noted that the White House plan in fact would add to the federal deficit and lambasted Bush. He went on to complain that the Bush plan calls for far too small a cut in the defense budget and would leave intact a tax structure unfair to the middle class.

Bush never looked at Romer but turned pale and clearly grew more upset by the moment. And when the Colorado governor finished, Bush adopted a belligerent tone and began to pelt Romer with questions in which hostility was only thinly veiled.

“We’ve got a program,” Bush said. “We’re testifying on it every day. Now, I’d like to know what your suggestion is specifically, while we have the press here.”

While Republicans, including California Gov. Pete Wilson, leaped to defend Bush, other Democrats joined in with their own criticisms of the President and his package, including Gov. George Sinner of North Dakota, who warned that the White House plan would drive the nation further into a “sewer of debt.”

“I think it’s time we go back and tax some of the wealthy people,” Sinner said, leaving Bush to answer only that “we disagree on that one.”

Bush ultimately assured Romer and the other Democrats that “in appealing for an endorsement” of the plan he was “not suggesting you endorse it” and the session ended on a more gracious note. But Democrats resumed their attack from the White House lawn, where Texas Gov. Ann Richards said of that state’s economy: “Our ox is in a ditch.”

Mark Gearan, a spokesman for the Democratic governors, said later that Romer had interrupted only because he and others had been assured that the press would be permitted to stay for his remarks.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell of Maine added to the Democrats’ attack as he said that he believes Congress will pass--”with or without George Bush”--a wide-ranging economic recovery program to address short-term and long-term needs, including a middle-income tax cut.

Criticizing the fact that Bush’s new budget envisions almost as much spending on defense for the next five years as he proposed in the last five years, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mitchell complained: “It’s as though nothing has happened.”

Times staff writer William J. Eaton contributed to this story.