Texas Governor George W. Bush will take the first step to seek the Republican Party nomination for the 2000 presidential race, The New York Times said. The son of the former President will establish an exploratory committee in two weeks, Bush adviser Karl Rove told the daily in a telephone interview. An exploratory committee would look into financing and staffing of a presidential campaign and is an almost sure sign of serious intentions of running for office.``There's no doubt he's going to file the exploratory committee,'' Rove said of his boss. Bush himself on Thursday told reporters in Austin, Texas, that in two weeks he would make an announcement, without giving further details. People close to the governor told the Times that Bush would probably make his official announcement of candidacy after the Texas legislature adjourns at the end of May.
In a recent opinion poll on the American public's voting intentions, Bush was ahead of Vice President Al Gore 50 to 40 per cent. Most observers had expectedRepublicans to be hurt by perceptions that they went too far in their pursuit of President Bill Clinton in the Lewinsky impeachment affair. But as the son of former President George Bush and a moderate Republican, the Texas governor is quite popular among voters.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Printer-friendly page