Vice President George Bush voiced confidence Monday that his political prospects in 1988 and those of his party were ”reasonably good,” despite a widening field of Republican presidential hopefuls on the Right.
”I`m inclined to say things look reasonably good. I feel very strong politically–stronger than I`ve ever been,” Bush said after a $50-a-plate fundraising luncheon for U.S. Rep. Lynn Martin of the 16th Congressional District in northwest Illinois. About 950 Winnebago County Republicans attended the gathering at Rockford`s Clock Tower Inn.
”I don`t see a major shift away from our ideals. I see the other party trying to become more conservative,” Bush said.
A potential for strong showings by some conservative candidates, such as that demonstrated in Michigan`s February delegate selection by TV evangelist Pat Robertson, does not worry him, Bush said.
”We should be a broad-based party with room for all kinds of thinkers,” he said.
”I would not try to court one or another (political tendency). I spell out principles, and hope they appeal to a broad sector. If you divide and categorize, you get whipped,” he said.
Bush`s confidence comes midway in a year in which he has been attacked by Republican moderates for playing to conservatives and by oil consumers for playing to oil producers by decrying the plunge in oil prices as a threat to national security.
The vice president said he has visited 96 cities this year and 5 states this month on behalf of Republican congressional candidates. He predicted President Reagan would soon be making similar appearances.
”Without Lynn and the other House Republicans, we wouldn`t have come so far in so few years,” Bush said.
He told the gathering of what he said were the administration`s triumphs: an end to malaise, stagnation and ”the era of limits and retreat” with more new jobs created in the United States ”in the last 3 1/2 years than in Europe and Japan combined.
”America is respected once again throughout the world, and other countries are copying our economic policies,” he said.
Bush insisted that his appearances on behalf of other candidates had nothing to do with his own campaign for the presidency, which he said would begin in 1987.
Martin, a three-term congresswoman from the Rockford area who sits on the House Budget Committee, is considered an easy favorite for a November victory over Democrat Kenneth Bohnsack, whom she defeated in 1984.
Martin served as Geraldine Ferraro`s stand-in when Bush prepared for the 1984 vice presidential debates.
”She was meaner than a junkyard dog,” Bush said of the practice sessions. ”After debating Lynn Martin, Ferraro was a cinch.”
Bush, who has targeted Illinois as a key state in his presidential chances in 1988, urged the Winnebago County Republicans to support Gov. James Thompson in his re-election bid.
”He`s a big guy who`s done a big job, and he`s done it well,” he told the gathering.
He also urged support for Bernard Carey, Republican candidate for Illinois attorney general, and State Rep. Judy Koehler, (R., Henry) who is a U.S. Senate candidate.
Earlier this year, Koehler characterized Bush as lacking passion.
”I think it comes from the fact he has been working hard for a number of years, and that there are many names in the race,” she said in an interview Monday.
