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GOP meet delegates evaluate hopefuls

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush, a rising star of the Republican Party, criticized President Clinton on Saturday for siding with organized labor and derailing a Texas welfare initiative.

"It's frustrating that the AFL-CIO is setting welfare waiver policy," Bush told Republican activists, many of whom considered the keynote address an early test of his presidential mettle.

Bush, son of former President George Bush, is headlining the Midwest Leadership Conference -- a parade of presidential potential that also includes a former vice president, a former vice presidential candidate and four former presidential candidates.

Facing re-election in 1998, Bush has played down talk about a 2000 presidential bid, although he did joke about it.

"I'm not planning to follow in my father's footsteps," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery. "I will not be parachuting out of any airplane."

In a plan to streamline Texas' welfare system, Bush wanted the private sector to determine who is eligible for benefits. Unions objected, worried that state workers would be replaced by cheaper labor. The Clinton administration refuse to allow the change.

"The president of the United States, the president who had promised freedom and flexibility, said no after he met at the White House with leaders of the AFL-CIO," Bush said.

Touching on Republican campaign cornerstones, Bush also endorsed a balanced budget amendment, tort reform, tougher law for juvenile offenders and a smaller Washington bureaucracy. "Limited government works," he said.

In nearly three dozen interviews, a majority of delegates said they were most interested in hearing from Bush -- citing their desire for a "fresh face" on the 2000 ticket and his support in vote-rich Texas.

"I think he may just be the next nominee," said Glenna Stephen of Redkey, Ind. "He seems different than the rest, so I want to hear what he has to say."

Yet delegates said Bush's star status is an early phenomenon that could fizzle. He must win re-election in Texas, decide to run for president and develop a strong message for a campaign that is still three years away.

"He's going to have to prove himself before the people will get tied to him," said Kenneth Culp, a farmer from Jasper County, Ind. "This is a good way to start."

Another presidential hopeful impressing delegates Saturday was Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., who revved up the crowd with a hard-hitting assessment of President Clinton's campaign spending practices. As chairman of the Senate panel probing the affair, Thompson promised to hold Democrats accountable for "this outrageous behavior."

"We're going to see to it that we have accountability," Thompson said.

Thompson, who urged his own party to pass new campaign finance laws, hopes to position himself as an independent-minded Republican -- an outsider who helped reform Washington from the inside. "Are we going to become part of the problem or continue to be part of the solution?" he asked the GOP activists.

Former education secretary Lamar Alexander, who didn't survive the 1996 GOP presidential primaries, said Republicans must convince voters that the party wants to ease racial and ethnic divisions -- just not the way Democrats would do it.

"They are the party of preference. We are the party of opportunity," he said.

Magazine publisher Steve Forbes, the only presidential hopeful who took questions from the delegates, denounced the budget deal negotiated by Republican leaders -- some of whom may be presidential candidates in 2000. "It's an abomination," he said.

Bush, 51, the former president's eldest son, dismissed the buzz about his political ambitions. "I've said from day one, I'm staying focused on our state," he said in an interview.

He is serving his first term, and large majority of Texans are telling pollsters they will vote for him in 1998. Yet no Texas governor has won back-to-back terms. And a likely opponent, Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, is a friend of President Clinton and will have no trouble raising money.

Bush doesn't want voters thinking he's only interested in the White House. He refused interview requests Saturday. In the days leading up the conference, Bush aides tried to play down his appearance by saying he did not consider it a rehearsal for 2000.

Still, conference organizers headlined their first news release, "George W. Bush to speak," with the likes of former vice president Quayle and House Speaker Newt Gingrich not mentioned until the third paragraph. Bush aides complained about the high-profile billing.

Bush was in the oil business in West Texas, then managing partner of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team before winning his first elective office in 1994 by forcing out Gov. Ann Richards, a popular Democrat.