Negative Ads Prompt Clashes in GOP Debate

George W. Bush and John McCain swapped charges of negative campaigning Tuesday night in a close quarters debate, their final clash before the South Carolina primary.

“You should be ashamed,” the senator from Arizona said to his rival. “Don’t compare me to Bill Clinton,” Bush snapped back.

McCain said he had ordered his staff days ago to stop running all negative ads.

But Bush, seated scarcely three feet away, waved a printed flyer that he said attacked him harshly and had turned up on a car windshield earlier in the day.

“That is not by my campaign,” said McCain.

“It says ‘paid for my McCain committee,’ ” was Bush’s instant rejoinder.

The rapid back-and-forth between the two men left the third contender, Alan Keyes, to complain about the tone. “Is this the kind of pointless squabbling we really want them to see?” he said of a television and studio audience watching CNN’s broadcast. The studio audience applauded.

Moderator Larry King of CNN made no attempt to interrupt the squabble, though, as Bush and McCain recited grievances against one another stemming from several heated weeks of campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.

McCain stunned Bush, the national front-runner, two weeks ago with a landslide victory in New Hampshire’s primary, and South Carolina shapes up as a pivotal test for the two men. The state votes on Saturday, and recent polls point to a close contest.

There were handshakes all around as the three men took their seats around King’s interview table. And the opening moments of the 90-minute encounter seemed more a seminar on foreign policy than a debate in the heat of a presidential campaign.

All three men said the United States should build a national anti-ballistic missile system, despite a Cold War-era treaty that prohibits it, and called for tougher treatment of China.

“All three of us agree that the president has drug his feet” on the anti-ballistic missile system, said Bush.

The tone changed abruptly, though when King asked Keyes whether the campaign had been a clean one.

McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, complained that Bush’s campaign had paid for an event at which a spokesman for a “fringe group” had attacked him for neglecting veterans. The same man years ago attacked Bush’s father, the former president.

“I don’t know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurt. That really hurt,” McCain said.

“Yeah,” Bush said quietly.

“You should be ashamed of sponsoring an event with that man there who had attacked your own father,” McCain continued.

“The man was not speaking for me . . . if you want to know my opinion about you, John, you served our country strongly and admirably,” Bush said.

But he then turned the tables on McCain, noting that one of his supporters, former Sen. Warren B. Rudman, had called members of the Christian Coalition bigots.

“He’s entitled to his opinion,” replied McCain, who did not disavow the alleged remark.

The debate shaped up as a critical juncture in the statewide campaign where Bush is trying to right his front-running campaign and where McCain is hoping to sustain a remarkable surge.

A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll published Tuesday showed Bush leading McCain, 49% to 42%, just above the margin of error. A Los Angeles Times poll had the two in a statistical dead heat.

The stakes in Saturday’s voting are huge for both candidates, as shown by their heated charges and countercharges of negative campaigning over the last week.

McCain hopes for a win to show that his 18-point victory in New Hampshire was no fluke. Bush wants to break McCain’s momentum and show he still deserves the front-runner’s mantle. Bush won the leadoff Iowa caucuses and last week’s Delaware primary, but McCain didn’t campaign in either state and polls have shown some of Bush’s support slipping.

During his town hall meeting in Irmo, McCain said his fate would hinge on turnout. The senator has been attracting new voters and reaching out to Democrats and independents, a key to his New Hampshire victory.

“If we have a big voter turnout, I think we can win this. If all this negative stuff depresses voter turnout, then I’m not as confident,” said McCain, who has pulled his negative ads off TV.

Bush said of the primary: “I think it’s important for both of us right now. It’s a state that in the past has done a pretty good job at picking the Republican nominee, and I hope it’s me in this case.”