The harder George W. Bush campaigns these days, the twangier he gets. "What I'm 'a do," he said last week, jutting his jaw in South Carolina, "is remind people about my record--remind people that I'm comin' with a record from outside Washington." But it is a measure of the trouble Bush is in that when he started doing that--unveiling a new slogan, A REFORMER WITH RESULTS--he was trying to climb inside the knight's armor already worn by John McCain. And going after McCain for "passing the plate to lobbyists and special interests" is an odd choice for Bush, the $67 million candidate who refuses to abide by federal fund-raising limits. So by the time Bush hit Newberry, S.C., and started stringing all his favorite phrases into one--"A reformer with results is a conservative who has had compassionate results in the state of Texas"--even some of his supporters had to chuckle. It sounded like prattle, message without meaning--the kind of thing his father would say.
But Bush really does see himself as a reformer. Not on campaign finance--that's just a pose--but on all the other issues he talked about last week: welfare and tort reform, taxes and education. And he really does have a record of reform on those issues, though his results have been mixed. On matters he cares about, Bush has displayed a clear vision and a knack for getting down in the policy weeds that is wholly at odds with his featherweight image. But on other crucial matters--poverty and hunger, the death penalty, gun violence, health insurance for the poor, pollution--Bush has shown little willingness to lead or even think deeply. And sometimes the policies he puts into place are more beneficial to his wealthy campaign contributors than to the people of Texas.
It is, as Bush likes to say, a conservative record--one that assumes that what's good for business is good for Texas--but it is also a substantial one, worthy of more attention than it has received. The Governor's aides hope that by emphasizing the record now, Bush can transform his image from greenhorn and dilettante to Man of Accomplishment. It's late, but they have a shot, because Bush himself is transformed when he talks about Texas; he becomes more relaxed and self-assured than when he's wandering the fields of national policy. During an interview with TIME last month, Bush clearly relished debating his record. Slouching on his bus in a blue satin warmup jacket, he was sharp, combative and a bit relieved to be talking about things he knows inside out. He could tell stories about the leader he believes himself to be: the guy whose magnetism and wit got things done in Austin, and got all those now jittery Republican leaders on board his campaign long before anyone had heard of McCain's Straight Talk Express.