Bush says Virginia win proves he's "doing it the right way"

By Mike Ferullo, CNN

February 29, 2000
Web posted at: 11:07 p.m. EST (0407 GMT)

CINCINNATI (CNN) -- After an admittedly long week on the campaign stump, Texas Gov. George W. Bush took solace in his wins over Arizona Sen. John McCain on Tuesday, citing the victories as evidence his campaign is not only winning the Republican presidential race, but "doing it the right way."

"I've got some good news from the Commonwealth of Virginia," Bush told a cheering crowd of supporters in Cincinnati. "We are one step closer to victory, we are one step closer to having a united party, and we are one step closer to getting rid of Clinton-Gore in Washington, D.C."

But even as votes were cast in Tuesday's contests in Virginia, North Dakota and Washington, Bush and McCain camped out in states conducting primaries in next week's Super Tuesday contest, which could determine the GOP nomination.

"In an open primary, by a solid margin ... the voters of Virginia rejected the politics of pitting one religion against another," said Bush, who made few references to McCain and never mentioned by name during his 20-minute stump speech.

The increasingly bitter campaign is pitting McCain and his coalition of independents and moderate Republicans -- along with some Democrats -- against Bush and much of the GOP establishment. The divide widened on Monday after McCain delivered a stinging critique of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, two Virginia-based religious leaders who have thrown their support behind Bush.

"This campaign is winning and we are doing it the right way. We are uniting our party without compromising principle. We are expanding our base without destroying our foundations," Bush said.

"We are proving that the most innovative and compassionate ideas in American politics are conservative ideas. Republicans and independents will rally to this cause because we're speaking to their hopes."

Campaign Communications Director Karen Hughes said Bush expressed relief, rather than exuberance, after first hearing the news from Virginia after a campaign rally in Westerville, Ohio.

The Texas governor endured a tough week on the trail after losing to McCain in the Arizona and Michigan primaries, which prompted some of his backers to publicly criticize his campaign tactics.

Bush savored his Virginia victory for only a few minutes before the crowd at Cincinnati's Memorial Hall on Tuesday, and quickly shifted his focus to the upcoming March 7 contests. He touted his gubernatorial record on taxes, welfare and education as the best evidence he's a "reformer with results."

He labeled McCain as an "opponent who has no next step on welfare reform" and criticized the Arizona senator's education proposals as meager. He also likened McCain's plan to offer targeted tax cuts to low- and middle-income Americans to the proposals offered by the Democratic presidential candidates.

"My opponents -- both Republican in our primary and Democrat when I'm the nominee -- they wrap their language in class warfare," said Bush, who added thatÊMcCain and Gore "sound like a (presidential) ticket when it comes to giving people their money back."

McCain: Bush limited to 'Southern strategy'

McCain called Bush to congratulate him but also looked ahead to next week contests.

"It seems as if he has a Southern strategy, doing well in Southern states," McCain told reporters as his campaign bus, "The Straight Talk Express" traveled to a campaign rally in Bakersfield, California. "We'll look forward to Super Tuesday when we have a broad section, a cross-section of America voting all on the same day."

Key states such as California, New York, Ohio, Maryland and Georgia will select some 600 delegates next Tuesday -- more than half of the 1,034 needed to win the GOP nomination.

McCain offered a bold prediction to the hundreds of cheering supporters at a rally in Bakersfield: "One week from this evening we are going to be celebrating one of the greatest victories in American political history."

The Arizona senator returned to California Tuesday after frenzied campaign stops in Virginia, North Dakota and Washington stateÊthe day before. He nonetheless downplayed the significance of those primaries.

"I don't think it has much effect at all. Most people in Super Tuesday states aren't going to be affected by what happens in Virginia or Washington, to tell you the truth," McCain told reporters on Tuesday.

Although campaign aides believe that McCain's attack on Robertson and Falwell likely cost McCain votes in Virginia, they're hoping that the message will attract supporters in New York and California, where the religious right is less of a political force.

"I have no illusions as to the task. We love a good fight and we're still the underdog," McCain said Tuesday.

McCain -- whose victories in New Hampshire and Michigan came largely because of the support of independents and Democrats -- continues to bill himself as the only Republican presidential candidate possessing the ability to broaden the party's base, as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s.

"I am proud to be a conservative ... but I am also proud throughout my life to have attracted the support and the love and affection of people from all over America and all parts of it," McCain told the crowd.

But a recent CNN/Time poll reveals that Bush enjoys a two-to-one advantage over Mccain among likely Republican voters in the California's primary. Independents and Democrats are allowed to take part in the primary, but only the votes of registered Republicans count toward the selection of the state's delegates to the GOP convention.

As Mccain continued to push for "independents, Democrats or Vegetarians" to switch party affiliations for next week's contests, he made a special appeal on TuesdayÊfor yet another "voting bloc" often associated with the Golden State.

"We want the hippie vote," McCain told the Bakersfield crowd. "There are some great conservatives in the hippie movement, as we all know."