Bush Family Gives GOP Rebound Hope

As the nation’s Republican governors gathered here this week to ponder the lessons of the 1998 election, it was clear that at least for now, the GOP future would be dominated by a four-letter word--Bush.

George W. Bush, triumphantly reelected governor of Texas and the eldest son of the last Republican president, stole the show at the three-day conference, starting with a joint news conference with his younger brother, Jeb, freshly minted governor-elect of Florida.

The strong showing of the new generation of Bushes took on extra significance in view of the soul searching and finger-pointing within the GOP after the party’s disappointing showing in the Nov. 3 election. This turbulent post-election period has seen the replacement of a number of House leaders, grumbling about the Senate leadership and a simmering rebellion against Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson.

George W. and Jeb Bush, by contrast, offer fellow Republicans reason for pride and hope.

“Give these guys credit,” Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, new head of the Republican Governors Assn., said of the Bush brothers at the conference’s closing session Friday. “They are the stars of our party.”

At their news conference, the elder Bush brother first flashed his wit: “He’s the tall one, and I’m the short one,” said 52-year-old George about his 45-year-old brother.

He then focused on education--the issue that has become a policy centerpiece for him and other GOP governors and the topic that many Republicans see as the key to their hopes of regeneration on the national level.

“Education is my top priority” as governor, he said. His administration has given local school districts overall goals but has sought to allow them leeway as long as the goals are achieved.

“We have a ‘no excuses’ policy,” Bush said. “We don’t let the state interfere so that no [school district] can say: ‘We would have done it but the state made me do it some other way.’ ”

GOP Governors Seek More Influence

Republicans will be occupying 31 gubernatorial offices next year, including those in the nation’s eight most populous states after California. As part of a bid by these governors to exert more influence on national party policy, some of them plan quarterly meetings with GOP congressional leaders. The first session is slated for next month.

And today, several governors will meet informally with Republican National Committee members in New Orleans in hopes of finding common ground for an issues agenda--one that undoubtedly would include education.

As a presidential candidate, Bush’s competition may include other Republicans who made a name for themselves as governors, such as Pete Wilson, California’s outgoing chief executive. Wilson is testing the waters for a presidential run, and, at New Orleans, he touted his own record on education.

Calling education “the path of upward mobility” for Americans, he cited his efforts to reduce class size in California schools, toughen curriculum standards and end social promotion.

But in an example of the advantages Bush seems to enjoy over Wilson, the Texas governor was praised at one panel discussion for the impressive percentage of Latino support he won in his reelection campaign.

Wilson, by contrast, has been criticized by some Republicans for embracing policies blamed for driving Latinos away from the GOP banner in California.

In the current unsettled Republican climate, there is even a political disagreement brewing within the Bush clan.

With Nicholson among those taking heat for the GOP’s poor showing in this month’s election, Jeb Bush is backing Florida Republican Party chairman Tom Slade in his bid to unseat Nicholson.

But his father, former President Bush, has weighed in with a letter to Nicholson praising his job performance, while George W. Bush so far is neutral.

“That just goes to prove we’re not a cabal,” said Jeb Bush.