USTIN, Texas - George W. Bush talks a lot about being a ''compassionate conservative,'' but in conducting his campaign, he's taken a decidely ''my-way-or-the-highway'' approach.
The Republican nominee still gets his principal political advice from the ''Iron Triangle'' of aides who helped him run for Texas governor in 1994, despite recommendations that he expand his team for the general election with experienced Washington operatives.
On the stump, Bush is delivering pretty much the same speech he has all year, focusing on the core themes of schools, Social Security reform, military readiness, religion-based welfare programs, and tax cuts. The message stays the same despite attacks by Vice President Al Gore that Bush's $1.3 trillion tax-cut plan ''would wreck our good economy.''
While the Commission on Presidential Debates, created to organize the fall face-offs, has proposed three meetings between Bush and Gore, the Texas governor has resisted the panel's recommendation and is instead saying he may participate in only two debates. Eager to control the format, he is toying with selecting a third debate with a nontraditional host such as late-night television's David Letterman or CNN's Larry King.
Even with his daily routine, Bush is breaking the mold for presidential candidates.
Two weeks ago, he wrapped up an appearance in Memphis and decided to head immediately for Dallas, even though his traveling press corps had spent thousands of dollars running phone lines and ordering food for a filing center arranged by the campaign. The reason for the change? Bush wanted to run at a favorite athletic club in Texas.
The governor has also refused to follow the longheld practice of traveling everywhere with a small group of reporters in case something unexpected happens on the campaign trail. Bush routinely leaves reporters behind and takes just his Secret Service detail to fund-raisers or for exercise.
While brashness and independence may be hallmarks of Texans in general, they are attributes of Bush in particular. His bravado has manifested itself in ways big and small. In fact, his wry smile has often been interpreted as a smirk.
As a child and teenager, he was forever the ring leader, setting up neighborhood baseball games or a stickball league at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
In his 20s and 30s, he was known for his hard-partying ways, favoring bourbon and beer. He quit drinking in 1986 after repeated requests from his wife, Laura, and after overindulging at his 40th birthday party.
In running for governor, Bush broke with conventional wisdom by challenging a popular incumbent, Democrat Ann Richards. His chief political strategist, Karl Rove, outlined a strategy of focusing on four core themes, and Bush executed the plan with success, even as Richards derided him as ''Shrub'' and someone with a limited vision.
Bush still receives advice from Rove and the other two members of the ''Triangle,'' campaign manager Joe Allbaugh and communications director Karen Hughes.
He is sticking with his tax cut plan, which dwarfs cuts proposed by Republicans in Congress, even though it was initially proposed to entice voters in tax-averse New Hampshire and to rally the GOP base. When Rove's primary strategy appeared to falter with Bush's loss in the first-in-the-nation primary, his boss scoffed at calls for a staff shakeup and instead bore down on the campaign trail.
He prefers to sleep in his own bed, so recent campaign swings have called for no more than three days on the road. When he travels, he takes along his favorite feather pillow and eats peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches that airplane caterers make especially for him.
Bush has made it clear that he'll continue to set his own cadence should he be elected in November.
While President Bush, the candidate's father, retreated to the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, a resort community where his staff and entourage could also take working vacations, the governor insists he will seek refuge within a 1,500-acre ranch he is building in Crawford, Texas, a one-stoplight town 30 miles outside of Waco. There is no hotel and only a few places to eat.
And the compassionate conservative delights at the prospect of reporters scratching around for a place to stay, since the more comfortable hotels are located in the state capital, about 100 miles away.
''No Four Seasons for y'all,'' he told reporters recently.
