Road to White House Has Been Bumpy One for Bush

George W. Bush persuaded Americans to make him the next president of the United States the same way a cabinetmaker finishes a fine piece of furniture: one painstaking step at a time.

Although he began as the Republican Party’s favorite for victory in the 2000 election, no single moment in the close, costly race with its torturous finale convinced voters that Bush had what it takes to lead the nation.

Rather, the popular Texas governor needed every day of the 20-month effort--and all of the $160 million spent by his campaign and his party--to plead his case to a bored and skeptical electorate. And even then, he almost didn’t pull it off.

In fact, the story of the campaign has almost been forgotten in the postelection donnybrook in Florida. But even before the lawyers duked it out, Bush traveled a long and bumpy road, segueing from famous clan’s anointed son, through inarticulate lightweight, to solid, serious man of stature. He went from “compassionate conservative” to staunch protector of right-wing values and back to the center again.

Bush Emerged ‘Less Menacing’

Along the way, Bush proved himself just smart enough, just inclusive enough and sufficiently more likable than rival Al Gore, a Democrat who was unable to benefit from the greatest gifts a sitting vice president can have when running for the nation’s highest office: peace and prosperity.

Through the course of the campaign, Bush “made himself, as a Republican, a much less menacing and troubling figure to the swing voters, who had been troubled and intimidated by . . . the Republicans on social issues,” says Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist.

Talking to reporters in the gold-and-green living room of the Governor’s Mansion on election day, Bush declined to pick a single high point of the arduous campaign, although he pointed to the Republican convention and the presidential debates as keys.

“Gosh, there’s been a lot of high points,” he said at the time. “The interesting thing is there haven’t been many low points. Even the low points turned out to be positive.”

Truer words were never spoken, as the campaign calendar of pivotal events shows: Losing the New Hampshire primary taught Bush and his staff how to fight. Listing to the right--most notably with a visit to Bob Jones University--Bush surged back to win in South Carolina.

The South Carolina victory “demonstrated that he really wanted to be president,” said GOP pollster Frank Luntz. “He could have imploded. It demonstrated that he could shout longer and stronger and better than any [Republican] opponent.”

Bush went on to beat rival Arizona Sen. John McCain in the Republican primaries, but the South Carolina battle for his conservative base also cast a shadow over the next few months.

The Texan had taken a pass when pressed on the controversy over whether the Confederate flag should fly at the South Carolina Capitol. And he gave a fiery defense of conservative values at Bob Jones, a school that until this year prohibited interracial dating, where one official believed Catholicism to be a cult.

But starting with a well-received proposal to reform reading education for children, Bush mastered the fallow spring and summer with a strategy to cast himself as a moderate with a string of powerful policy addresses on issues critical to swing voters.

“March through June, we began the general election while Gore was still figuring out where he was or what he’d begun,” said Karl Rove, Bush’s senior strategist.

In addition to the reading speech, Rove also credits a May 15 address on Social Security reform with bolstering Bush’s stature as a moderate. Another high point, in Rove’s view: A Washington speech in which Bush proposed reducing America’s nuclear stockpile while flanked by a cast of national defense bright lights, including Colin L. Powell and George P. Shultz.

Along the way, polls reflected the effectiveness of Bush’s strategy. Democrats are the traditional education candidates, but Bush stole their momentum on the issue.

Bush dominated Gore in the polls during the policy-rich spring, and the Republican convention in Philadelphia gave the Texan his first chance to reach a prime-time audience of millions. The overarching theme was one of reaching out to nontraditional groups, and far-right leaders of the party were nowhere to be seen.

Standing on a red, white and blue stage, interrupted by wild cheers and applause, Bush gave one of the best speeches of the campaign, lambasting the Democrats for eight years of failed leadership and promising to “seize this moment of American promise. We will use these good times for great goals.”

The speech “demonstrated that he really was presidential,” said Luntz. “The convention speech was so important because it was, for many Americans, the first chance to look at Bush as an actual president.”

But then the Democratic Convention swung around, Gore was resurrected as a warm and loving man, and Bush began to trip badly. At a Labor Day event in Illinois, he called a reporter a vulgarity in comments that were broadcast over a public address system.

Controversy erupted over a Republican Party ad criticizing Gore’s Medicare plan, in which “rats”--a portion of the word “bureaucrats”--was flashed for a split second. Party officials denied they were trying to send a subliminal message. The campaign was embarrassed and thrown off course.

At the same time, Bush’s choice of a running mate was being questioned. Dick Cheney, former secretary of Defense and oil company executive, was a lackluster campaigner at best. His voting record as a Wyoming congressman created a stir, as did his retirement package from the global oil services firm Halliburton Co.

Gore on Points, Bush on Style

The debates seem to have turned that around. In a series of confrontations that Gore won on points but Bush won on style, the Republican established himself as knowledgeable and friendly.

Bush “really kind of connected with people in a way that I think Vice President Gore did not” during the debates, political scientist Baker said. “It’s funny how an individual’s polish can work against him.”

Soon after the debates, Bush began to rise in the polls. But the race became--and remained--too close to call far into election night and for more than the next month, a period during which Cheney suffered a heart attack and any presidential mandate likely eroded.

The campaign itself, however, ended late on Nov. 6, when the last confetti cannon had fired, the final balloon was released and Bush flew home to wait for marching orders from America. Along with the rest of the country, he had no inkling of how long that would take.

But on that last day of campaigning--somewhere between Arkansas and Austin--he strolled to the back of his campaign plane, all handshakes and twangy charm, and greeted the journalists who had chronicled his quest. Heading back to his seat, Bush turned, mugged and paraphrased another Republican.

“You won’t have me to kick around,” he cracked.

He was wrong.