REENVILLE, S.C. - The handshake is history.
It was just a month ago that Governor George W. Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain shook hands on an informal pledge to shun negative campaign ads.
Now the two campaigns are rocketing critical ads back and forth, along with charge and countercharge about who started the negative trend.
Bush, who lost the battle for New Hampshire but is conceding nothing in South Carolina, which holds its primary Feb. 19, released two new ads yesterday. And the ads, titled ''Reformer with Results'' and ''Promised,'' were quickly matched by a new spot from McCain, which reminds viewers, as has Bush, of the Jan. 10 handshake between the men.
The McCain ad appeared to be the more cutting of the two, questioning Bush's sincerity and asking: ''Do we really want another politician in the White House America can't trust?''
The ad, which features McCain speaking straight into the camera, makes a direct comparison between Bush's criticism of McCain in his ads and President Clinton.
''His ad twists the truth like Clinton,'' McCain says. ''We're all pretty tired of that. As president, I'll be conservative and always tell you the truth no matter what.''
That Clinton comparison moved former Education Secretary William Bennett, who is neutral in the contest, to urge yesterday that McCain should stop his ad against Bush. The Clinton comparison, Bennett said, crosses the line.
In response, McCain spokesman Todd Harris said, ''While Senator McCain certainly respects Mr. Bennett, as long as the Bush campaign continues to attack Senator McCain and distort his record, we will keep that ad on the air.''
Meanwhile, Bush, stressing his claim to be a ''Reformer with Results,'' took McCain on yesterday here and in Delaware, reminding supporters that the Arizonan, who promises to take on special interests, has been a Capitol Hill fixture for years.
Referring to McCain several times as ''chairman,'' an allusion to his position on the Senate Commerce Committee, Bush repeatedly accused McCain of using the post to solicit campaign funds. And more than a dozen times, Bush repeated what may become a new slogan in his campaign, saying McCain ''does one thing and says another.''
''Chairman McCain voted not once, not twice, but five times to support publicly financed congressional campaigns,'' Bush said at a news conference. ''This is a man who does one thing and says another. And during this campaign in South Carolina, I'm going to remind people of that. I'm going to battle for the vote.''
''It's sad, isn't it?'' Bush said. ''The true nature of John McCain evidently is coming out. I'm sad he's using that kind of ad. The people of my state know I brought honor and dignity to the office. I'm going to fight for what I believe is right, and I'm not going to let my record get distorted.''
Bush's new ad called ''Promised'' makes a similar point, saying McCain broke his vow to run a clean campaign and citing newspaper reports of McCain's links to lobbyists.
Meanwhile, McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, wrote to Karl Rove, Bush's senior adviser, saying, ''Our campaign will not sit on our hands and allow our candidate to be personally attacked. We will respond.''
The letter calls on Rove to pull his ad and the name-calling by Bush and his surrogates.
The tense back and forth between the campaigns took place amid signs that McCain's victory in New Hampshire continues to give him momentum in other primary states. A poll of Michigan voters conducted by the Detroit Free Press, to be published today, shows McCain and Bush about even in a state where the Texas governor had been far ahead. The Free Press poll of 300 likely primary voters showed McCain with 45 percent support to Bush's 43 percent.
