IRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Even by the standards of his insurgent campaign it was a daredevil maneuver: Senator John McCain yesterday journeyed into the backyard of Christian conservative Pat Robertson to denounce him and a few other prominent evangelicals as ''agents of intolerance.''
Delivering a fiery address in the community where Robertson's Christian Coalition is based, McCain told a roaring crowd that Robertson and fellow Christian conservative Jerry Falwell ''distort my pro-life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters. Why?
''Because I don't pander to them, because I don't ascribe to their failed philosophy that money is our message.'' McCain said. ''The union bosses who have subordinated the interests of working families to their own ambitions, to their desire to preserve their own political power at all costs, are mirror images of Pat Robertson.''
Texas Governor George W. Bush, campaigning in Bellevue, Wash., responded with a shake of his head when told about the speech. ''It sounds like Senator McCain has taken to needless name-calling,'' Bush said.
''Ronald Reagan never played to people's religious fears like Senator McCain has shamelessly done,'' he said, calling his opponent ''a man who wants to point fingers.''
The Christian Coalition issued a statement calling McCain's comments ''a transparent effort to divide one American from another on the basis of religion.''
Though Robertson was the primary target of McCain's speech, delivered the day before GOP contests in Virginia, Washington state and North Dakota, Bush was also plainly in his sights. Robertson has appeared on national television calling McCain dangerous to the future of the Republican Party. And Robertson made a telephone message to voters in both South Carolina and Michigan supporting Bush and harshly criticizing McCain. In the message, Robertson called former US senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire, McCain's national campaign chairman, a ''vicious bigot.''
Robertson, McCain argued, was so intolerant of the independent and Democratic voters flocking to McCain's candidacy that he would ''build a wall around our party.''
''My friends,'' said McCain near the end of his speech. ''I am a Reagan Republican who will defeat Al Gore. Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore.''
He also said, ''Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the right.''
McCain stressed that he was not attacking all Christian conservatives, but was criticizing only leaders like Robertson and Falwell. The senator ended his speech by making the battle lines even clearer, and the crowd responded with a standing ovation.
''We are the party of Theodore Roosevelt not the party of special interests,'' he said. ''We are the party of Abraham Lincoln not Bob Jones. ... Join us and welcome anyone of good faith to our ranks. ''
The mention of Bob Jones referred to Bush's recent speech at Bob Jones University in South Carolina, in which the governor failed to comment on the school's policy against interracial dating, or on the anti-Catholic views of Jones, the college president and descendant of the school's founder.
Bush issued a written apology for that omission over the weekend, after the McCain campaign used the appearance to recast Bush's strong South Carolina victory as proof of his catering to the right wing.
But McCain and his aides said they would continue to use Bush's appearance at the university against him, as they did in phone calls to Catholic voters in Michigan.
The ongoing attacks over Bob Jones University prompted McCain's campaign co-chairman in South Carolina to resign yesterday.
''They're growing into a national media vendetta that I cannot associate my name to,'' said state House Speaker Pro Tem Terry Haskins, a Bob Jones alumnus. ''People at Bob Jones are not racist and they don't hate Catholics. ... But the public lynching of this college has created an environment which threatens the freedom for any individual or group in America to hold unpopular religious beliefs.''
At a briefing after his speech, McCain said the calls are ''completely factual. I don't see why people should confine their campaign tactics to one state and then not be held responsible for that campaign tactic throughout the rest of the nation.''
Bush, after meeting with voters at the community college in Bellevue, Wash., said McCain is doing one thing and saying another, although he refused to accuse McCain of lying. ''It reminds me of the current administration,'' said Bush, who responded angrily when McCain had compared him in a commercial to President Clinton.
''This is a political game Senator McCain is trying to play by pitting one group against another,'' Bush said. ''The people are beginning to condemn the kind of politics that Mr. McCain is engaged in.''
Jennifer Dunn, a Washington congresswoman who backs Bush, said she believes McCain made a serious mistake by denying his campaign had made telephone calls in Michigan about Bush's visit to Bob Jones University and the anti-Catholic views voiced by college officials.
''People in our state don't like that type of politics,'' Dunn said. ''It's an integrity issue. People are beginning to question John McCain's integrity.''
While McCain kept his focus Bush and his fundamentalist allies yesterday, the Texas governor generally ignored his opponent for the Republican nomination or referred to him obliquely.
But when asked about encouraging young people to get involved in politics, Bush did take a shot at his opponent.
''Young people know the difference between somebody who says one thing and does another, between somebody who says he's going to run one kind of campaign and does another,'' he said.
Coming out so forcefully against Robertson, and in largely conservative Virginia the day before its Republican primary, is a risky strategy for McCain. He said his speech was an appeal to Christian conservatives, not a challenge to them.
He said his speech was not about Bush but about ''the future of the Republican Party.'' While hammering his credentials as ''a proud Reagan conservative,'' McCain called on conservatives to reject the intolerance of leaders like Robertson in favor of a more open philosophy.
''The majority of the citizens of the state of Virginia reject the kind of politics practiced by Pat Robertson,'' McCain said. ''Where he makes phone calls with his own voice saying that Warren Rudman, who served in Korea and served as attorney general and served in the US Senate, calling him `a vicious bigot.' I am sure the majority of the citizens of Virginia will reject the practice of such politics.''
McCain's speech also emphasized his credibility as a conservative and his wish to appeal to all kinds of voters. For more liberal voters, he took a stand against Robertson, Falwell and Bob Jones University. For conservatives, he underlined his commitment to lower taxes and his defense ''of the sanctity of life and the values that make families strong and our country great.''
There is a chance McCain has underestimated the strength of support for Robertson and Falwell in Virginia.
But aides hoped voters would see that McCain had the courage to do in Virginia what Bush did not do at Bob Jones University.
Abraham reported from Virginia; Zuckman from Washington.
