Forbes began exerting his influence on George W. Bush a year ago. Facing what his aides regarded as a weak GOP field, the Bushies were obsessed with avoiding Dole’s fate. One way to do it: raise more money than Croesus–or Steve Forbes. If they raised enough dough, they figured, they could reject federal spending limits. No matter how much Forbes spent on TV ads, they would spend more.
The conservative publisher also figured in the calibration of the Bush tax-cut plan. The Austin Powers knew they would have to face off against Forbes in New Hampshire, where, they assumed, Republican voters still liked the idea of slashing taxes. Bush’s $483 billion tax-cut plan was bigger than the one House Republicans had put forward last year–and had been unable to sell. But it would help insulate the Texas governor against Forbes’s attacks.
Ironically, both strategic decisions have aided Sen. John McCain, whose crusade against “special interests” and the national debt takes advantage of the openings created by Bush’s obsession with Forbes. If Bush manages to win the nomination, his moves on money and taxes won’t help him in the fall election against Al Gore or Bill Bradley.
In the crucial last days of the early primary season, Forbes is exerting his pull one more time. Once a fuzzy moderate on abortion, he’s running as a full-throated right-to-lifer this time. He concentrated his fire on Iowa, where 40 percent of the likely GOP caucus goers call themselves born-again Christians. Forbes pounded Bush, calling him a waffling “strong moderate” on the issue.
He drew close enough to Bush there to tug him farther right. In Colfax, Iowa, Bush tiptoed away from Roe v. Wade, saying that the Supreme Court had “stepped across its bounds and usurped the rights of the legislatures.” At the weekend, he said he favored including a strong anti-abortion plank in the party platform. It was another statement Bush might regret next fall–and another that Forbes had drawn him into making.
