What's in a name? Plenty, says syndicated columnist Rick Horowitz -- if it's the right name. For instance...

You Can't Beat the Bushes for Contenders

By Rick Horowitz

If I were (perish the thought!) the advice-giving type, I might have had a few choice words to offer by now about the latest pebbles on the electoral landscape. I might have noticed the swarm of White House wannabes already jaw-flapping their way across the countryside, looking for that early edge for the year 2000, and I might have sat them down in a room somewhere and said to them with all the kindness I could muster:

Forget it.

Forget the speeches, that is, and the cattle shows. Forget the banners and buttons and bumper stickers. If you're looking to separate yourself from the rest of the Republican pack, I might have told them, you need something else altogether.

You need your Daddy's name.

Say hello to George Bush, not to be confused with George Bush -- except by nearly everyone. Lucky boy.

There seems to be some misunderstanding; at least that's what the experts are saying. These particular experts do polling for a living, and they're out there even as we shriek, trying to figure out who's up, who's down, in the next presidential race. Who's up, people keep telling them, is George Bush. He's dominating the Republican field. He's even running ahead of Al Gore, who's been just a heartthrob away for years now.

Call him George Bush, Frontrunner. The question is: Which George Bush?

There are, you see, two of them. There's George H.W. Bush, former president of these United States, elder statesman, retired. And then there's George W. ("Don't call me Junior") Bush, son of the former, currently pulling down a paycheck as governor of the great state of Texas. Bush the Elder has already done four years in the Oval Office. Bush the Younger, by all accounts, has his sights set on filling Daddy's shoes (and chair) ASAP.

The thing is: Lots of the people who've been saying they're hot for "George Bush" in 2000 seem to be thinking of the wrong George Bush; they must figure the old guy's making a comeback, going after the second term he never had. That's how the pollsters see it anyway, because when some of them ask other kinds of questions and make it clear there are multiple George Bushes and that this particular model is not the ex-prez, his numbers deflate like a souffle on a speed bump.

In the meantime, though, most of the polls -- and most of the headlines -- don't make the fine distinctions. "Bush on top," they say, which attracts the lion's share of the early money and endorsements, hamstrings the competition and builds the Big Mo; it's your basic self-fulfilling prophecy.

The pollsters are trying to adjust, they say. When they walk Joe Q. Citizen through the list of contenders, they'll make a point of calling this one "Texas Gov. George W. Bush" and the like, to distinguish him from his distinguished father. But even that's got its drawbacks, they admit. None of the other names on the list comes with an official title the way Bush's does; they could be giving him an extra boost that way, too.

What a kick in the head for the Lamar Alexanders of the world. The Dan Quayles. The Steve Forbeseseses. They can hit the campaign trail nonstop, shaking hands and chomping chicken just as hard as they can. But it's still going to be an uphill fight for every last one of them: Team Bush has them outnumbered.

I wonder what Ron Reagan is doing these days....

Posted 6/16/98. Fresh stuff right here twice weekly!

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