EARBORN, Mich. - Seeking to invigorate his campaign in South Carolina, Governor George W. Bush of Texas yesterday launched an advertising blitz that attacks Arizona Senator John McCain by name for the first time.
Today, Bush is expected to meet with his senior campaign aides in Austin, Texas, to discuss how to proceed in light of McCain's rising popularity in South Carolina and nationally.
Campaign officials denied that the meeting was ''a major summit,'' or that they were retooling Bush's message since his lopsided defeat in New Hampshire Tuesday. But talk of McCain's advance cannot be avoided, aides acknowledged.
''It's an important conversation that follows what happened in New Hampshire,'' said Ari Fleischer, a Bush spokesman. ''We have a fight on our hands. All conversations about what we do and where we go will be conducted with the full realization of the changing political dynamic.''
The new television ad in South Carolina follows Bush's repeated aim at McCain yesterday during a swing in this early primary state, accusing McCain of ''Washington double talk'' for attacking special interests while currying support and raising money from lobbyists.
One new tack in the Bush campaign, however, was greeted coldly yesterday, when five US senators demanded that the Texas governor apologize for comments Thursday by a veteran who endorsed Bush and attacked McCain as someone who had ''always opposed all the legislation'' intended to help veterans.
A letter from the senators criticized Bush for allowing J. Thomas Burch, chairman of the National Vietnam and Gulf War Coalition, to ''impugn John McCain's character and so maliciously distort his record'' the day before. The senators also urged Bush to reject Burch's endorsement.
The letter was initiated by Massachusetts Democrat John F. Kerry, and signed by McCain national cochair, Nebraska Republican Charles Hagel, as well as Democrats Charles S. Robb of Virginia, Robert J. Kerrey of Nebraska, and Max Cleland of Georgia.
Bush spokesman Fleischer dismissed it as a ''distraction from the main issue,'' and ''old news.''
The letter also underscored the controversy surrounding Burch, who flew to South Carolina this week to appear at the Bush event. Burch, 57, who spent a year and a half in Vietnam, has waged an array of largely ineffectual battles on veterans' issues and has consistently opposed McCain, according to a Senate aide.
Senate aides said the one-page letter was sent late yesterday to Bush, who was traveling from Michigan to his home in Austin. Asked about Burch's comments at a press conference the day before, Bush made it clear he thought highly of McCain's war record, but did not comment on the criticisms of McCain's votes in Congress.
Bush's new television ad is an implicit admission that McCain has successfully framed the discussion about the budget surplus. McCain talks about cutting taxes, protecting Social Security, and paying down the national debt. Bush has talked almost exclusively about cutting taxes. On the stump and in his own television commercial, McCain repeatedly criticizes Bush for spending ''every dime'' of the federal surplus on tax cuts.
''John McCain's ad about Governor Bush's tax plan isn't true and McCain knows it,'' the Bush commercial says. ''McCain's economic adviser says he'd support Bush's plan - $2 trillion to protect Social Security, pay down debt, and a real tax cut.''
McCain's political director, John Weaver said the comments of McCain's adviser were taken out of context.
''One of the lessons of New Hampshire is that the governor realizes he must more vigorously promote his agenda,'' said Fleischer. ''Whether it's the Union Leader, Steve Forbes, John McCain or Al Gore, he needs to set the record straight.''
Zuckman reported from Michigan; Kornblut from New York.
