Search All of Salon.com Directory   Politician expects Giuliani to run (AP) Nancy Reagan endorses Bush (AP) Gore backs domestic violence bill (AP) Gore knocks Bush on Social Security (AP) Bush daughters going to Yale, UT (AP) Gores celebrate wedding anniversary (AP) Democrats prepare ad campaign (AP) Bush adds upper level staff (AP) Keyes continues run for president (AP)
Arts & Entertainment Books Comics Health & Body Media Mothers Who Think News People Politics2000 Technology Travel & Food Columnists "Scam" ads the norm NYU study shows how campaign ad loopholes are exploited ruthlessly. By Jake Tapper [05/18/00] Trail Mix: Hillary haters spam cyberspace Court calls for first lady's phone records. Giuliani to give a final answer, but either way he keeps the cash. Keyes continues crusading on the sidelines. By Alicia Montgomery [05/18/00] Gunning for the center George W. Bush is trying to modify and moderate his perceived positions on guns. By Jake Tapper [05/17/00] Democrats make Hillary legit New York's party convention officially nominates the first lady for the U.S. Senate while a certain mayor goes unmentioned. By Jesse Drucker [05/17/00] The blundering pundit Dick Morris' predictions about the New York Senate race have all been off the mark. By Eric Boehlert [05/16/00] Don Giuliani A masterwork given new meaning. By Jake Tapper [05/16/00] Campaign video: George W. Bush talks about why John McCain's endorsement is important to him.			Seduced and destroyed? The California GOP came drooling after George W. Bush last year as the man who could save the party. It didn't anticipate the batting eyes of John McCain. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Anthony York March 3, 2000 | LOS ANGELES -- After the resounding Republican defeat in 1998, one of the earliest California Republicans to venture to Texas was Assemblyman Rod Pacheco, then the only Republican Latino in the Legislature, who had been newly promoted to Assembly Republican leader after the election. "I was sitting there with the governor, [Bush strategist] Karl Rove and my chief of staff, just the four of us in the room, and he says to me with his drawl, 'Whaddaya all think of me out there?'" Pacheco recalled. "I said, 'Well, you're our savior.'" The story of California Republican leaders rallying around Texas Gov. George W. Bush is similar to the rest of the tales that made Bush the early GOP presidential front-runner. Still licking their wounds after a clean Democratic sweep in November 1998, California Republicans began discreetly shuttling down to Austin to meet with Bush begging him to running for president. More news on Gun Control _ Print story E-mail story California Republicans aggressively courted Bush even though favorite-son Pete Wilson, the two-term Republican governor, was mulling another White House bid. A handful of legislators followed Pacheco to Austin, with George friend Leslie Goodman offering counsel and guidance to many of those who made the pilgrimage. Goodman, however, remained neutral, caught between her former boss, Wilson, and Bush. Meanwhile, Republican activists in TechNet, the political arm of high-profile high-tech firms, were arranging trips for tech executives to meet with the governor, which quickly led to key political and financial support. By the time Bush arrived in the state at the end of June aboard a plane christened "Great Expectations," he had lined up unprecedented fund-raising and party backing. Bush had done what no candidate in California had been able to do -- unite the Republican Party establishment. Acrimony has been the hallmark of the California Republican Party establishment for years, leading Dan Schnur, a California GOP veteran and now communications director for John McCain, to say the party was lined up in "a circular firing squad," with its constant, headline-grabbing battles over abortion. But with his Texas charm, Texas-size bankroll and celebrity name, Bush truly was a uniter, not a divider. Then came John McCain. Next page | It's the economy, stupid

Salon | Search | Archives | Contact Us | Table Talk | Ad Info

Arts & Entertainment | Books | Comics | Life | News | People
Politics | Sex | Tech & Business | Audio
The Free Software Project | The Movie Page
Letters | Columnists | Salon Plus

Copyright © 2000 Salon.com All rights reserved.