BRANDON, Miss. -- Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush Monday predicted the harsh rhetoric of the opening stages of the presidential fight between him and Democratic Vice President Al Gore will continue unabated, and ruled out early debates.
"It's going to be a tough campaign, I agree. This guy will say anything to get elected," Bush said in a question-and-answer session at Grace King High School outside New Orleans.Later, at a news conference in Mississippi, the Texas governor said his "reform agenda" will eventually be decisive, but that he will keep hammering his Democratic opponent over Gore's 1996 fund-raising activities.
"I believe the ideas are what's going to carry the day, but when Vice President Gore stands up and says all of a sudden he's a campaign funding reform advocate, after having gone to a Buddhist temple a couple of years ago, I'm not going to let that pass by. I'm going to remind people of what the truth is, what reality is," he said.
Asked about Gore's call for debates, Bush said, "the best time to debate is when people are paying attention, and as much as we wish, America is now going to go into a little hibernation period when it comes to politics."
"We're going to come after Labor Day, and that's when people will start making up their minds on who the next president ought to be. There will be ample time to debate then," he said.
Bush also told the news conference he had been speaking with Senate supporters of his vanquished rival for the Republican nomination, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. "I look forward to working with them. In other words, there's outreach going on," he said.
He gave no indication he was prepared to strengthen his campaign finance proposals to accommodate McCain.
Bush was campaigning in Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma before heading home to Texas on the second day of a two-day swing to six Southern states holding primaries Thursday.
The Texas governor can wrap up the nomination by capturing 253 of the 341 delegates at stake Tuesday, campaign officials say.
He and Gore were effectively assured of their parties' presidential nominations when their chief rivals withdrew last week. They immediately began attacking each other. Bush accused Gore of improper campaign finance activities in 1996 and Gore said he will make Bush's lack of national political experience an issue.
Bush swatted back Gore's questioning of his experience, saying he had a proven record as Texas governor and would bring a fresh view to the White House.
"Al Gore says somehow I don't have enough experience to be president. His attitude is if I haven't lived all my adult life in Washington I can't be president. The good news is what people want is something different from Washington, D.C.," Bush said in Louisiana.
The questioning placed Bush on the defensive at times, with students challenging Bush to explain his refusal to discuss rumors of cocaine abuse and whether he would lift economic sanctions on "poverty-stricken" Cuba.
Bush said his past had been thoroughly investigated and he had served as governor with dignity and integrity. He said he was unwilling to play a "game" of being forced to respond to rumors. "It's time somebody stood up to it and I'm standing up to it," he said.
Bush said he would keep sanctions on Cuba until Cuban leader Fidel Castro freed political prisoners and implemented free elections and other reforms.
A questioner also drew out Bush's wife, Laura, who declined to compare herself as a prospective first lady with Tipper Gore, the vice president's wife, but said she understood the interest in the private lives of presidents and their families.
She said her parents-in-law, former President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush, had given her confidence that she and her husband could still be good parents to their twin daughters, now 18, while occupying the White House.
"Fortunately I don't have to run for office to be a first lady, so I don't know that I'd make a better first lady than Tipper or Hillary Clinton for that matter," she said. "But I do know that I have a lot of interests that I think are important to our country. One of them of course is for George to be elected president."
"I will take my role if I have been lucky enough to become the first lady of the United States very seriously. I understand that it is a serious role. I understand that there is a role model part of that."