Bush Bites Back

His first four campaign days of 1988 were all George Bush needed to turn the Republican race into a blood sport. Beginning in Washington with an artful response to the taunts of his principal rival, Bob Dole, and climaxing with a brawling, take-me-on-if-you-dare performance at a Des Moines debate, Bush appeared to have whipped his wimp image. But the Vice President may need all the moxie he can muster, since he suddenly found himself bushwhacked over an issue he hoped had been forgotten: his role in the Iran-contra scandal. The fusillade of what-did-he-really-know charges came mainly from the press, but it was Alexander Haig who put them in sharp political focus when he asked during the debate, "If you can't answer your friends, what in heaven's name is going to happen next November if you are our standard-bearer?"

Moments later Bush turned on Haig with the kind of ferocity that once gave Dole a reputation as a political hatchet man. "Let me turn it around -- what did you tell Nixon during Watergate?" the Vice President jabbed, referring to Haig's service in the White House bunker during the final days. The constricting format of the debate soon forced the Republican contenders to move on to far less electric issues. But the image lingered: Bush lashing out.

And so, in the final month before the 1988 voting actually begins, Bush has clearly become the dominant -- indeed, virtually the only -- issue of the Republican campaign. That is fine with Dole, who wisecracked his way through the debate and tried to cement his image as a just-folks neighbor from Kansas. He felt no political need to further provoke Bush; his sardonic jabs earlier in the week had been enough to move the race toward a two-man showdown.

Gone now is the pretense that the G.O.P. combatants will abide by Ronald Reagan's cherished Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of fellow Republicans." With Iranscam taking some of the air out of his heir-apparent appeal, Bush must continue to prove that he can be a candidate of rough-and- tumble as well as resume. Dole's efforts to project smiling serenity never last long; his style is attack, and sarcasm his weapon. As a result, the race has become a sometimes angry clash of personalities.

Although Bush polls better nationwide, Dole is leading in Iowa. A TIME poll of probable Feb. 8 Iowa caucus attendees, conducted last week, puts Dole ahead of Bush 40% to 30%, even though Bush leads Dole 49% to 24% nationwide among those likely to vote Republican. Bush handily tops Dole nationwide on the question of who has more experience and who would be good in an international crisis, but Dole gets higher marks for showing strong leadership. For the moment, the other four Republicans in the race are reduced to praying for a double knockout. In Iowa, none has more than 6%.