Bush Insists Home, Office-Seeking Don’t Mix

Politics and family are two different worlds, and Texas Gov. George W. Bush wants to keep it that way, even as he runs for the Republican presidential nomination in a gossip-driven, media-obsessed world.

On Saturday, Bush was at home at the Governor’s Mansion here for “down time,” a chance for a bit of privacy and personal life.

Bush’s twin 18-year-old daughters, Barbara and Jenna, are off limits: They don’t campaign and they don’t do interviews. And Bush never answers any what-if questions about them, as he made clear earlier his week.

Suppose one of the girls came home and said, “Dad, I’m going to appear on a television show called ‘Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?’ ” Bush was asked electronically at America Online’s headquarters in Dulles, Va., where he combined live-audience and online interviews Friday.

After Bush laughed heartily, he explained his ground rules for his family, which he laid down earlier in the campaign when asked how he would respond if one of his daughters was pregnant and sought an abortion.

“I’m not going to talk about my girls in any hypothetical way,” he said. “I know it frustrates some in the media; that’s too bad. These girls are not running for president, I am.”

He added: “You don’t see them in my advertising because I want to protect their privacy. I know what they’re going through.”

The son of former President Bush said it is a bigger challenge to be the child than the candidate seeking the biggest prize in politics.

“Listen, it is really hard to be the offspring of a candidate for president. It is much easier to be the candidate. People can say things about me and it doesn’t bother me, my hide is thick.”

While refusing to talk about his daughters as potential contestants on the controversial Fox TV show that led to an on-air wedding, Bush was quick to condemn the program as a “ridiculous” manifestation of a troubled culture.

“What kind of society is this?” said Bush. “Marriage is powerful, a marriage is love. When I say I want to lift the spirits of America, that’s what I’m talking about, and to blow the whistle on the kind of a pop culture where people show up on TV to marry somebody out of the blue.”

After his day off, Bush goes back to campaigning today, traveling to Washington state, Ohio, Georgia, Missouri and California seeking votes in a rash of approaching primaries.

The Bush camp is expressing confidence he will capture two contests Tuesday--a primary in Virginia and a caucus in North Dakota--while viewing the day’s third race--a primary in Washington state--as too close to call.

Bush aides argue that two out of three wins will put him in a commanding position as he and rival John McCain then prepare for a spate of contests March 7, highlighed by primaries in California, New York and Ohio.

Several Republican governors--the bulwark of Bush’s support within the party--also insisted Saturday that McCain’s strong showing so far has not shaken their belief that Bush will emerge as the GOP nominee.

“The governors were with George Bush early, we’re with him now, and we’ll be with him in Philadephia [site of the GOP convention], when he receives the nomination,” Gov. Michael O. Leavitt (R-Utah) said as he and his colleagues gathered Saturday in Washington for the National Governors’ Assn. winter meeting.

Leavitt added: “If I were George Bush or leading his campaign, I would not for a minute want to trade places with John McCain.”

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Times staff writer Tyler Marshall in Washington contributed to this story.