Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Voters to answer only poll that counts Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 15:19:55 EST Message-ID: \SE A;CAMPAIGN '92 \HD Voters to answer only poll that counts \SH Bush says his last hurrah in Houston \BY Frank J. Murray \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT HOUSTON HOUSTON - A philosophical President Bush led his thumbs-up tour home last night - "the last day I will ever campaign for myself" - to await the nation's verdict on his political career where it began 30 years ago. "No way, Bill! No way!" he shouted hoarsely at a morning rush-hour rally but by the time he flew into Houston for the campaign finale he was occasionally speaking in the past tense of a presidency that saw world changes of what he called "almost biblical proportions." "There is no way Barbara and I can ever adequately say thank you," he said, singling out Chief of Staff James A. Baker III, "who is at my side in the battle of my life." Mr. Bush said he was tired after "the worst year of my life" but waxed nostalgic here about Texas, recalling his Navy and oil background here and delivering "my last speech ever on my own behalf as candidate for re-election as president of the United States." "We will annoy the media and re-elect President Bush," he said, dismissing pollster predictions he will lose today. "So what. I have a feeling the gods are smiling on us and we're going to win this campaign." "We need to be praying," said country singer Ricky Skaggs, whose band helped warm up the audience. Other celebrity backers on stage when Mr. Bush arrived included Bob Hope; Charlton Heston; country singers Naomi Judd, Lee Greenwood and Larry Gatlin; golfer Arnold Palmer; oil-well firefighter Red Adair; baseball Hall-of-FamerTed Williams; and pitching ace Nolan Ryan. "We're really near the end of the trail," Mr. Bush said with a note of resignation at Baton Rouge, La., shortly before his tumultuous welcome home by an overflow crowd of about 15,000 in the Astroarena where he staged his triumphal arrival at the Republican National Convention just 11 weeks ago. The rain and rhetoric intensified as Mr. Bush left behind dawn sleet for rallies at airports and Republican suburbs of Philadelphia, Akron, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and Baton Rouge. "Let's go win it," he said in Louisville, where he called the presidential vote a matter of conscience. Along the way he also invoked God, the flag, the first lady, and a band that played "Stand By Me." The president constantly emphasized character without entirely abandoning the other issues despite advice in a rousing introduction at Madison, N.J., from talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. "This is it. This is the last day. This is where nut-cracking time arrives," Mr. Limbaugh told a crowd of almost 9,000, citing Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts as proof that character mattered far more than "issues, issues, issues." "If character doesn't matter in these things, why isn't Sen. Kennedy president today?" said the outspoken host of a radio talk-show network of nearly 500 stations. Mr. Bush, who stepped to the first microphone just as a church bell tolled 8 o'clock, seemed delighted at Mr. Limbaugh's quip after hearing only bad news about voter-preference polls that his staff dismissed as unreliable because they were taken on a weekend. Mr. Bush scheduled a 16-hour day for his last words, set to music by the Oak Ridge Boys band which traveled with him. He did not launch an election-eve ad blitz as did his challengers. And aides downplayed any need to work all night as Democratic nominee Bill Clinton planned to do before returning to Little Rock, Ark., today to vote in the style of 1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. "It did a lot of good for Michael Dukakis in '88. Obviously, if he thought this thing was in the bag . . . it wouldn't be an all-night show," White House political director Ron Kaufman said, declaring all campaigners worried except independent candidate Ross Perot. "I guess the only one cocksure he's going to win is Perot," Mr. Kaufman said. All day Mr. Bush reprised numerous issues - family values, foreign-policy experience, trust, character, the popularity of Mrs. Bush and the menace of Saddam Hussein - but kept his emphasis on the intangible confidence factor he says should define the world's leading statesman. "Who do you trust?" he said at every stop, tagging leading opponent Mr. Clinton at one point "the slippery one" but generally not doing much of the name-calling of previous days when he called the Democratic ticket "bozos." Mr. Bush summed up his credentials by saying he had been tested, and his administration's "success can be measured by the headlines that were never written, the countless crises that never occurred." As for the Democratic nominee: "We simply cannot take a risk on Governor Clinton. He is wrong for America on the issues and I believe I am better for America on character." He passed up no chance to get the crowd laughing at Mr. Clinton. "I read in the papers that Governor Clinton was already planning his inauguration parade. Put it on hold, Bill," he said. At each stop, Mr. Bush offered several variations on the theme of the day. "Vote for trust and character and lifting up this country. . . . Vote for George Bush," the president said in an Ohio airplane hangar. He was drowned out by cheers from the crowd of 8,000 when he pledged not to let "extremist" environmental views put the state's auto workers out of work - a direct swipe at Democratic vice presidential nominee Al Gore. The president said the nation does not need a "taxophone" in the White House, ridiculing at once Mr. Clinton's tax policy and his penchant for jazz saxophone. "Bill Clinton offers an economic disaster for this country," Mr. Bush said, focusing on tax proposals. "It is a scam." Mr. Bush continued to tease and arouse crowds with his slogan "Annoy the media - Re-elect George Bush," and yesterday he lumped the media in with Saddam, who stayed in power despite Operation Desert Storm. "And I'll tell you who else we're going to show wrong. It is Saddam Hussein's government," he said, repeating his taunt about reported plans for a huge Baghdad rally tomorrow to celebrate his ouster. "Saddam, put it on hold, old friend," Mr. Bush said in Louisville. Just about everybody angered him on a day when he said victory was just hours away. "I take out as much ire on these Republican talking heads on the talk shows on Sunday as I do on the Democrats. They're all running for cover, and we are going to show them wrong," he said. "We don't need them anymore. We don't need them," he said. "Tomorrow it's not the pollsters and it's not the national press; it's the people who decide these elections," Mr. Bush said when he asked Pennsylvania voters to give him an upset victory. ****BOX (COLOR) VOTER INFORMATION Polling hours and election office numbers. DISTRICT Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 202/727-2525 MARYLAND Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Montgomery County 301/217-6450 Prince George's County 301/952-3270 VIRGINIA Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Alexandria 703/838-4050 Arlington County 703/358-3456 Fairfax City 703/385-7890 Fairfax County 703/591-8523 Falls Church 703/241-5085 Prince William County 703/792-6470 This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM