The dynamics of a political campaign and the strategy utilized by a candidate varies drastically from the primary to the general election. During primary campaigns, candidates are motivated to win the support of their party. Thus, candidates reach to all parts of their party often pandering to the multiplicity of competing interests.
George W. Bush exhibited this kind of primary strategy when he made his now famous appearance in South Carolina at Bob Jones University, a school known for its racist and intolerant traditions. In fact, he faced quite a bit of criticism for the extent to which he courted the votes of the hard right wing, conservative and religious factions. However, with Super Tuesday long over and still many months of general election campaigning ahead of him, Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush is now going through a period of political recentering. With the bitter taste of the Bob Jones mistake still lingering in his mouth, Bush has been working hard to deliver on his promise of compassionate conservatism. He is trying to turn this rhetoric into reality by courting a voter demographic that he didn't seem to acknowledge during the early primary season--independents, moderates, and potential democratic cross-over voters.
While Al Gore keeps a low profile eluding the press as the Elian issues continues to burn, Bush is on the campaign trail delivering policy speeches and enjoying McCain-esque gatherings with the press on his campaign plane. Bush's advisors have restructured their candidate, or perhaps he has restructured himself, to pursue a portion of the electorate the Republicans typically have difficulty engaging. In fact, some people like the LA Times' Ron Brownstein think Bush is looking more like a "New Democrat" than Gore these days by addressing issues that are traditionally seen as the backbone of the Democratic Party's platform -- childhood literacy, education, healthcare, and social issues.
During the primaries, Bush was criticized for not meeting with the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay and lesbian members of the party. At one of the many televised Republican debates, he gave an excuse suggesting he had refused to meet with them because they supported Senator John McCain. After countless news stories and endless chiding on the nation's op-ed pages, Bush did meet with gay Republicans this past week. Perhaps some may see it merely as an appeasement. Still, he deserves some credit, albeit in an effort toward recentering himself, for making the move to improve his image of openness and tolerance to different ideas.
Bush has also been quite diligent in the past few weeks delivering detailed policy speeches that seem more often to resemble ideas of the Democratic Party. He has outlined his plans for reforming American education, which is typically an issue owned by the Democratic Party, and an issue that will resound loudly with voters in the upcoming general election. His plans for improving our public schools places emphasis on teachers, and giving local and state school systems more control over federal dollars in return for more accountability.
Last week, Bush outlined a healthcare proposal which, much like bills proposed by Democratic Senators, involves giving tax credits to individuals to be used to pay for insurance coverage. He has also entered the discussion of reforming the Social Security system. Bush wants to privatize Social Security by allowing individuals to funnel their payroll taxes into individual accounts that could be invested in the stock market for retirement. Again, many Democrats support this idea, though Gore casts a shadow on Bush's plan suggesting it is too risky.
Most recently, at a rally in Michigan this week, Bush voiced his ideas for a proposal to improve America's struggling neighborhoods. The atmosphere of the rally seemed reminiscent of Clinton and the target audience was low-income Americans, a part of the electorate usually dominated by the Democratic Party. In a low-income neighborhood surrounded by many African-American homeowners, Bush delivered a speech outlining a plan to provide developers with $1.7 billion in tax credits over the next five years for building and renovating low-income houses. Bush sees the tax cut as integral in providing every person the opportunity to enjoy the American Dream. As Bush says, "part of the American Dream is saying, 'This place is mine.'"
The latest buzz is the imminent meeting between Bush and McCain on May 9. Despite McCain's insistence that he does not want to play second fiddle, Bush has expressed his serious consideration of McCain as his running mate. While Bush and McCain might not be the dream team in terms of a working relationship, a Bush-McCain ticket would be a formidable force in the polls and in an election against Al Gore. McCain, who masterfully attracted the support of the median voter in the early primary season, could be the icing on Bush's strategic cake to court the political center of American voters.
The question still remains--does this movement by Bush predict a change in the ideology of the modern Republican Party or is it just another campaign tactic to assure election?
