Party tells Bush to shape up

TRAILING in polls and struggling to deflect rumours of turmoil in the White House, President George Bush will face extreme pressure this week from his party to act decisively to regain the initiative in the US election campaign.

With three weeks until the Republican convention in Houston, growing numbers of the President's own supporters are publicly venting their frustration with his campaigning performance and urging him to take drastic action to win back public favour and head off Bill Clinton's Democratic bandwagon.

'I would suggest to the President that he has a conversation with himself and that he ask himself two questions,' William Bennet, a former member of the Bush administration, said yesterday. 'Do I really want to be President and, if so, what is it that I want to do?'

A weekend opinion poll, conducted for Time magazine and CNN, showed Mr Clinton consolidating his remarkable 2:1 lead over the President, with 53 per cent over 26 per cent. Perhaps even more striking, a survey in Orange County, California, quintessential Bush and Reagan territory in the past, showed Mr Clinton also leading by 42 to 35 per cent.

Among the steps being urged on Mr Bush is a quick reshuffle of his cabinet as a means to jettison his two top economic advisers, the Treasury Secretary, Nicholas Brady, and the Budget Director, Dick Darman. Also as part of a renewed effort to tackle the economy, still not truly out of recession, the President is being asked widely to revamp measures to kick-start growth.

The Bush team is already preparing to launch an intensive television advertising campaign in the few days ahead of the Houston convention, from 17 to 20 August.

Speculation that the President might take the truly dramatic step of ditching Vice-President Dan Quayle was doused at the weekend after the reports that the two had debated the issue last week and agreed to stick together. 'They have discussed the ticket, partly in terms of the politics of who is on it,' an associate of Mr Quayle said. But the normally Republican Chicago Tribune yesterday again urged the President to replace Mr Quayle.

There is still little clarity over the timing of the expected transfer of the Secretary of State, James Baker, from the State Department to the White House to take charge of the Bush-Quayle campaign. After virtual confirmation of the move last week, it had been assumed it would happen just ahead of the Houston convention. But Lawrence Eagleburger, the Deputy Secretary of State, cast doubt on the imminence of the move. 'I would say that Jim Baker will remain Secretary of State for some long period of time and speculation that he is leaving in two or three weeks is nonsense.'

Mr Clinton, who drew huge crowds at the weekend at rallies in both Washington and in southern California, has been at pains to play down the importance of his poll lead, insisting that, with running mate Al Gore, he needs to work flat-out to continue campaigning. 'There are 100 days left in this election. It is an eternity. We've got to make the case for change. As far as I'm concerned, the polls are insignificant,' he told reporters.

An added woe for the Republicans are signs of renewed drama in the six-year-old investigation into the Iran-Contra scandal. Weekend reports suggested that prosecutors in the case will decide in the next 10 days whether to charge the former President, Ronald Reagan, with participation in a cover-up of the affair.

(Photograph omitted)