By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, June 9, 1999
As he prepares for his first presidential campaign visit to New Hampshire next week, Texas Governor George W. Bush said yesterday that "expectations are out of sight for me."
In a telephone interview with reporters, Bush said he knows he is behind when it comes to one-on-one campaigning for the 2000 race and he realizes that there are people hoping to see him fail.
"I recognize I'm late, and I know I've got a lot of work to do," Bush said. "I'm mindful of how important the New Hampshire primary is."
Also yesterday, Bush sent a letter to New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner, promising not to campaign or file a declaration of candidacy in any state that holds its presidential primary earlier than seven days after the New Hampshire primary.
"This is good news for New Hampshire," said Gardner, who is currently looking at a Feb. 8 primary date to avoid conflicting with South Carolina's primary.
The New Hampshire House will take up legislation today encouraging candidates for president to support the state's heritage as the first-in-the-nation primary and allowing Gardner to set the primary date as early as December 1999. State law requires that New Hampshire hold its presidential primary at least one week before any other state. Every four years, New Hampshire lawmakers jockey to prevent other states from impinging on their weeklong buffer.
When Bush arrives in New Hampshire on Monday, he will attend a breakfast in New Castle, speak to 900 people at a luncheon in Manchester, and visit a fire station in Bow. He is also planning to shake hands with the workers at Hadco Industries in Derry during the shift change early Tuesday morning.
"I've got to shake as many hands as I can," Bush said.
"My first hurdle is to tell people what's in my heart and what I believe and do it in as plain a speaking way as possible," he said.
When asked what he planned to speak plainly about, Bush said tax cuts, free trade, strengthening the military, and improving education.
Before going to New Hampshire, Bush will spend Sunday with his father, the former president, to celebrate his 75th birthday. He has already gotten some advice from his father.
"He would say it's much better to win than lose," Bush said.
But, Bush acknowledged, "I come with a lot of people interested, and some people interested in figuring out how not for me to do well."
That could not have been more true yesterday as Joe Andrew, national chairman of the Democratic National Committee, toured Boston and New Hampshire, promising an aggressive scrutiny of Bush's candidacy. And he warned that Bush is much farther to the right politically than he portrays himself.
"People know nothing about Governor Bush except that he has a middle initial," Andrew said. "But for his daddy, he would not be running."
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