EST COLUMBIA, S.C. - Governor George W. Bush has long campaigned on ''welcoming new faces'' to the Republican Party. But after hosting a campaign event at a renowned slavery-era plantation here Tuesday night, Bush yesterday found himself dogged by questions about whether his sensitivity to racial issues has been subordinated to his political needs.
During a campaign swing here, Bush again refused to take a stand on a blazing local topic: whether the South Carolina Capitol should fly the Confederate flag. His reticence on that score is largely shared by his leading rival, Senator John S. McCain. Neither wants to risk much political capital in the name of a local controversy.
But Bush found himself more deeply ensnared in South Carolina racial politics yesterday, as furor mounted over whether a state senator and minor Bush contributor should apologize for insulting the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. On Saturday, Senator Arthur Ravenel, a Charleston Republican, called the NAACP the association of ''retarded people'' in remarks to a ''save-the-flag'' rally, then compounded the insult by apologizing to ''the retarded folks of the world for equating them to the national NAACP.''
The remark has prompted tremendous outcry among blacks in South Carolina, but Bush simply called it ''unfortunate name-calling'' and refused further comment.
He expressed no second thoughts at all about his campaign's decision to hold an oyster roast at Boone Hall, a sprawling estate eight miles north of Charleston. Asked whether choosing a former slave plantation might offend some of the black voters he seeks to recruit, Bush denied that the plantation venue had any symbolic significance, calling it a ''place where people hold public functions all the time.''
Taken individually, the incidents seemed unlikely to put much of a dent in the Bush campaign, particularly since other GOP candidates are likewise wary of the issue, and because states with early contests - including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Michigan - do not have large numbers of black Republican voters. The plain-spoken McCain has, in particular, grown cautious in speaking on the flag controversy.
''As to how I view the flag, I understand both sides,'' the Arizona senator said during a Dublin, N.H., appearance yesterday. ''Some view it as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage,'' a phrase used by some white Republicans who want the flag to continue flying over the South Carolina Statehouse. ''Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage.''
Bush, for his part, was clearly agitated by the questions, with their potential to smudge something he holds dear: his reputation as a Texas governor of unusual sensitivity to minority concerns.
At a morning news conference here, Bush refused, as he did in a debate in South Carolina last week, to weigh in on the Confederate flag issue, saying simply: ''It is a local issue.'' When asked whether the state senator should apologize for his NAACP remarks, Bush said: ''It'd be up to the senator to do that.'' Then he cut off questioning, thanked reporters and left the podium.
At the same time, the Democratic National Committee urged Bush to reject the endorsement of Representative Jay Dickey, Republican of Arkansas, after he made racially controversial remarks about black farmers. The DNC also said Bush should give back $25 Ravenel donated to Bush's 1998 gubernatorial campaign.
''Bush says he wants to run a different kind of Republican campaign, and reach out to voters who haven't traditionally supported his party,'' the release said. ''He can prove his sincerity by rejecting Dickey's endorsement and returning Ravenel's campaign money.''
Others, however, said Bush's views and actions should occasion no dismay.
''I don't think it is inappropriate at all for him to hold an event at a slave plantation,'' said Phyllis Berry Myers, executive director of the Center for New Black Leadership, a black conservative policy center in Washington. ''Slavery was a fact of American life... and as we move into the 21st century there are things I hope we would leave in the 20th century, such as judging people by their color and defining everything that happens in black America according to race.''
Bush sought to move past the questions by referring to his record on economic issues and education. Those topics, he said, and not his stance on symbols like the Confederate flag, will be the deciding factor in how minorities vote.
He also went out of his way, during a campaign visit with the heads of several charities in Wilmington, Del., to describe his enthusiasm for bringing new voters into the Republican fold. The party, he said, must ''welcome new faces and new voices.''
''The party must reach out to people,'' he said. In the general election in the 1998 Texas governor's race, Bush won 49 percent of the Hispanic vote and 27 percent of the black vote. He also said: ''I believe my message, if people hear it, will encourage African-Americans to vote in Republican primaries and for this Republican candidate.''
Elaborating on the decision to stage a campaign event at Boone Plantation, Bush said the 319-year-old plantation, in Mount Pleasant, S.C., is a popular tourist destination large enough to accommodate his throngs of supporters. He also said that ''the Democratic governor of South Carolina was at an event there the night before.''
Nina Brook, an aide to South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges, said the governor had never visited the plantation during the course of his campaign or tenure in office.
Earlier in the day, Bush was endorsed by Republican senators John Ashcroft of Missouri and Connie Mack of Florida. That brings his number of Senate endorsements to 33. Ashcroft, who abandoned his own thoughts of a presidential bid last year, introduced Bush with a rousing proclamation: ''We're far too young to die. It's time again to fly and let this mighty eagle soar again.''
Charles Radin of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was also used.
