‘Town Bully’ Buchanan Out to Destroy Party, Fitzwater Claims : Politics: The remarks reflect growing concern in Bush camp that the GOP challenger’s attacks could hurt President’s campaign.

President Bush’s chief spokesman injected new vitriol in the Republican presidential race Friday, denouncing Patrick J. Buchanan as a candidate who seeks only to “tear everything down.”

In blunt and bitter terms, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater labeled Buchanan a “town bully” whose candidacy aimed to “destroy” the Republican Party, the Establishment and the President himself.

Fitzwater likened Buchanan’s tactics to those of a carnival sideshow and accused him of standing for nothing himself.

The unprompted strike reflects what other officials concede is mounting concern within the Bush camp that Buchanan’s free-swinging attacks on Bush are in danger of leaving lasting wounds.

There was more evidence Friday that Buchanan was striking a chord with Georgians, who vote in an open primary on Tuesday. He received a standing ovation from a joint session of the state Legislature after hammering Bush on taxes, government spending, hiring quotas, and what he characterized as “filthy blasphemous art” funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The largely Democratic Legislature lapped up the attacks, and Buchanan hoped that other Democrats would cross over to vote for him on Tuesday. “What wins for us are the social conservatives, the Reagan Democrats. It is that 20% of the national electorate that we are pulling away from Bush,” Buchanan told reporters.

He said that while Fitzwater had gotten “a little out of control,” his comments “betray the fact that the gentlemen in the White House are confusing themselves, their jobsand their titles with the Republican Party that used to stand for something. They have abandoned all their principles and that is why they are in trouble.”

In one sign of unease in the Bush camp, a senior aide said there were signs that voters were preparing to vote for Buchanan “to do a little reform work” on Bush. Campaign officials said Friday that Bush now intended to embark on a full-scale Southern campaign in which he will travel to as many as four states a day as he braces for a flurry of primaries March 10.

Bush himself used Friday to rest and reassert his claim as a Texan, donning a red cowboy kerchief over starched shirt and blue blazer to deliver a low-key address at a pre-rodeo gathering well-dotted with wide-brimmed hats.

“I think we’ve been a little too apologetic, a little too pessimistic in the face of these tough economic times,” he said. “And I hope I’m the one to lead us out of it.”

As he jogged earlier in the day in a park near the rented hotel room he calls his home, he told reporters he did not want to discuss the campaign on what officially was his day off.

But his aides were not reticent. One senior White House official even likened Buchanan to Jesse Jackson as a candidate determined to maintain a quixotic quest for the presidency no matter what the cost to his party.

Saying that Buchanan had “fallen in love with being a candidate,” the senior official said the Bush campaign was now grappling with the increasing likelihood that the insurgent would remain in the race all the way through a contentious final primary in California.

As Bush prepared for his first pre-primary foray to Georgia, where Buchanan has bludgeoned him daily with commercials and speeches, it was unclear whether the new sense of vulnerability would be reflected in his own message.

Bush told reporters Friday that he was “going to be nice” as he begins a march from Atlanta to Savannah today.

“I don’t think a President needs to get down there, you know, at that level,” Bush said, adding: “I can’t be dissuaded by a lot of political attacks.”

But Bush also sounded a sober realism in the face of evidence from this week’s South Dakota primary that the Republican discontent first registered in New Hampshire may well be felt more widely. Conceding that economic concerns would continue to be reflected in primary votes, he said: “I have to bear my share of responsibility.”

For his two-night stay in the Houston he calls home, Bush slept in the Houstonian hotel suite that is his official residence for tax and voting purposes.

Jehl reported from Houston and Ross from Albany, Ga.

ENDORSEMENT FIGHT: Buchanan operatives try to stave off pre-primary endorsement of Bush in state. A24