Reinventing George W. Bush

Although George W. Bush is still the Republican front-runner, the momentum fairy is waving her wand over John McCain's head these days, not Bush's. So the Texas governor is rethinking the way he presents himself to voters - and the way McCain presents himself to voters.

Bush is now calling himself the "reformer with results," while he says McCain has a lackluster record during his 17 years in Congress. You want reform? Look at what he did in Texas: tax cuts, charter schools, tort reform. "I want to be judged on results," Bush insisted Monday at a luncheon in Delaware.

And another thing, says Bush, you need to watch out for "people who say one thing on campaign-finance reform, and on the other hand (are) doing something different." McCain whines about campaign-finance reform, but he's still taking money from people some of them even special interests! "I guess that's what happens in Washington," Bush said with carefully inflected innocence.

Of course, McCain has never said he opposes campaign contributions. He figures any "special interest" that drops money in his coffers knows that he means to change the system, and must support his goal of altering the way campaign money is handled. "Yes, I've received money from friends," McCain said mildly Monday morning in Michigan. But Bush is the one with a "million-dollar fund-raiser" under his belt. You can believe lots of things about John McCain, he insists, but "hypocrisy isn't one of them."

And his record in Congress? "I understand that Gov. Bush is now a reformer. If so, it's his first day on the job. I've been at it 17 years," McCain said, citing several bills he's worked on, including the presidential line-item veto.

He also suggested the Bush folks are a wee bit "desperate," and their decision to "attack" won't sell "because the American people are tired of that."

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Great. But how does Bush fight a guy who kicked off his event in Warren, Michigan, with a nun who showed the crowd the POW bracelet she wore back during the Vietnam war? A bracelet with McCain's name on it.

"Every day I prayed for this person I did not know," Sister Mary Leanne said. McCain thanked her for her prayers; she beamed at him and vowed to attend his inauguration. For a "decided underdog," which McCain says he still is, moments like that are gold.

Democratic underdog Bill Bradley, meanwhile, had only one event scheduled Monday. But his opponent, Vice President Al Gore, is taking nothing for granted. He traveled from New Jersey to Florida to sew up some traditionally Democratic voters: labor union members. Donning a hardhat (which always looks faintly ridiculous on a suited politician), Gore gripped and grinned with a group New York construction workers.

Next up, a speech to members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that endorsed the vice president last April. He spent a lot of time on health care, slagging "the ill-conceived Bill Bradley" plan, which he said would particularly hurt New York.

He also faulted Bradley for leaving the Senate in 1997, instead of fighting the "Gingrich group" (some in the audience hissed here). Gore almost hints that Bradley isn't a true-blue Democratic fighter (and if you listen to Gore's speeches, you know how much he wants to fight).

And it's true-blue Democrats Bradley needs so badly. His problem, in Iowa and New Hampshire, was that he didn't appeal to enough Democrats. It was independents who propelled him to contender status in New Hampshire, but there weren't enough of them to go around. And there still might not be.

So Bradley's looking to win over some traditional Democrats as well, like African Americans. He met with Rev. Al Sharpton over the weekend, and headed to Florida Monday to berate the state's governor, Jeb Bush (George W.'s brother) for his stance against affirmative action. He heads to South Carolina Tuesday for a speech on race relations.

Gore outpolls Bradley among black voters, mostly because those voters are happy with President Clinton, and, by extension, with Gore. On paper, Bradley has a lot to offer minority voters; but on paper, he has a lot to offer any Democratic voter. He knows as well as anyone that he's got a problem. On NBC's Meet the Press, he conceded "I have to communicate better with the Democratic base." And soon.