ANCHESTER, N.H. - News that his principal rival plans to target him more aggressively in speeches and ads moved Arizona Senator John McCain to offer what amounted to a scornful lament yesterday: George, you just don't get it.
McCain, in an interview, said Texas Governor George W. Bush can only hurt his party and himself if he overreacts to fading poll numbers in New Hampshire and turns his campaign in a negative direction.
And, as for Bush's criticism of McCain for his stance on campaign finance overhaul, McCain said Bush must not be fully briefed on the facts. Even imperfect improvement is better than the political status quo, in which special interests hold sway, McCain said. And, he added, Bush's specific complaint that the McCain plan leaves the power of unions to contribute to campaigns unchecked is simply wrong.
''How could anybody not want to change a system in which a Chinese army-owned corporation with a subsidiary in the United States can now give money legally to an American campaign?'' McCain responded yesterday during a telephone interview from South Carolina. ''I don't see why anybody wouldn't want to change that. I think we've got to put country above party on this issue.''
Bush said in a Globe interview Monday that he plans next month to begin drawing distinctions with McCain on campaign finance, taxes, and education issues. On campaign finance, Bush, who favors a ban on soft-money contributions by corporations and unions but not individual donors, is especially critical of McCain for dropping the so-called ''paycheck protection'' provisions from his long-pending campaign finance legislation. Currently, union members' dues can be used for political purposes, and frequently they wind up funding Democratic causes. Republicans want to give union workers the option of preventing their dues from being used that way. McCain, however, dropped that language in the Senate this year because of Democratic demands.
''Is that the kind of leadership you want?'' Bush asked in the interview. ''I can't imagine, `Elect me, I'm the kind of leader willing to hurt the Republican party.'''
But McCain has long supported the right of union members to keep their dues from being used politically. In addition, he has supported the right of shareholders in publicly traded corporations to give or withhold their permission before corporate money can be used for political means. Yesterday, he said the more pressing problem is unregulated soft-money donations from labor unions to the Democratic Party.
''The governor should look at the list of Democratic Party contributions, they're from labor,'' said McCain, who would prohibit soft money from corporations and individuals, as well as unions.
''I say, look at the big, huge contributions from big labor to the Democrats: They're huge millions of dollars in soft-money contributions,'' said McCain. ''This would eliminate that. I don't get it.''
Besides ''drawing distinctions'' with McCain, the Bush campaign is expected to run television ads that draw an implicit contrast with McCain, and in some cases an explicit contrast, one senior official said.
McCain also said yesterday that he hopes Bush does not engage in a divisive campaign against him.
''When you get into negative attacks on each other, it hurts both of you,'' McCain said. ''I think we can have a reasonable discussion of the issues.''
Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for Bush, said the McCain campaign is engaging in a political ploy by warning Bush against launching a negative attack, when he is doing nothing of the sort.
''The governor's going to run the same positive, upbeat campaign he always has,'' Fleischer said. ''He's going to discuss with the American people the issue differences between the two candidates. He won't hesitate to discuss that taxes will be much higher in a McCain administration than a Bush administration, but that is issue-oriented.''
McCain has criticized Bush for proposing too large a tax cut at $483 billion over five years.
But the McCain campaign is wary. In response to Bush's new approach to the campaign, McCain aides quickly sent out a copy of a script from one of Bush's first television commercials.
''I believe oftentimes campaigns resort to mud throwing and name calling,'' Bush says in the ad. ''And Americans are sick of that kind of campaigning. What they want to hear is what's on people's minds and where the candidate's hearts are. I'm going to run a campaign that is... optimistic and very positive.''
The McCain campaign also issued a statement from McCain saying that Bush's dip in the polls should not deter him from the ultimate objective, ''to send the Clinton-Gore crowd back home.'' The statement said a negative campaign will increase the chances of Vice President Al Gore getting elected.
Warren Rudman, the former New Hampshire senator who is supporting McCain, warned that Bush had better think again before running any negative ads.
''I've rarely seen a comparative ad that didn't create distortions,'' Rudman said in an interview. ''If they want to do that, they'll do that at their own peril.''
