I was at ground zero of the de facto stop McCain movement recently, as a guest speaker at the Republican Governors Association at La Costa, a luxurious California resort with clay tennis courts, milk baths and valets dressed like footmen.
In exchange for being on the program, I got more face time than usual with the Governors, including late-night margaritas and brandy. While I was fascinated by their discussion about taxing sales on the Internet, what I was really looking for was any crack in their pre-emptive, granite-hard support for their colleague, Governor George W. Bush. Lately, he had given off a slight whiff of Dan Quayle, and his first debate was imminent. Senator John McCain was showing surprising strength. And surely there must be some Oval Office envy, given that one of their own had left them in the presidential dust. Stare in the mirror now, and at best there's a Vice President staring back. I was certain there would be some hurt feelings when Bush dissed the meeting entirely, even though he was only 15 minutes away in San Diego raising money.
I wheedled the teeniest glimmer of criticism out of North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, the incoming chair of the association, who allowed as how he thought it would be a nice touch if the Governor were to make a cameo appearance, given that the group was voting a pre-primary endorsement of him, the first in its 36-year history. But when Bush sent word--"Love ya, but can't get there"--Schafer was all forgiveness. "It wouldn't have been a good use of a presidential candidate's time. He's already got us."
Boy, does he. There's no establishment like the Republican Establishment. These guys don't complain; they don't wobble; they won't entertain the notion that Bush is slighter than many others in their exclusive club, like Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson, who considered running but didn't when he concluded that "Bush was more famous, had more money and was better looking." Bush has advantages the rest of them don't--lineage, family crest and primogeniture--not to mention that modern tool of war, a massive treasury. He also wooed them, as if he were back at his fraternity house. And he still does: he arm squeezes and bear hugs; he calls; he has them to the mansion. He gives each one a nickname. What does it matter if he isn't the wonkiest among them? These are can-do guys who admire a winner and want more than anything to regain the throne lost to an illegitimate king in 1992. They aren't concerned that their own loyal subjects may not like being told what to do. They're in love.
Unlike Dole in '96, Bush invites them to come along for the ride. He's a constant buddy movie. He took Montana Governor Marc Racicot on his plane to New Hampshire for last Thursday's debate there. In exchange, Bush has been the beneficiary of the Governors' outsize money and political operations. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge says Bush is the first candidate "to absorb the Governors' organizations so completely into his own."