Friends In High Places

By Nancy Traver/Washington

White House Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater stepped up to the blue-velvet-trimmed podium of the White House briefing room for the daily ritual of feeding the usually acerbic presidential press corps. U.P.I.'s Helen Thomas, the ever vigilant observer of six Administrations, lobbed the first barbed inquiry: "Well, Marlin, what are you going to do for George Bush today?" Smiling benignly, Fitzwater replied, "Anything I can."

Fitzwater wasn't jesting. Since Ronald Reagan's return from his Santa Barbara ranch, the White House has been transformed into a branch office of Bush campaign headquarters; White House officials have donned red-white-and- blue neckties printed with PUSH FOR BUSH. After the neckties were distributed at a Cabinet meeting, the President called upon his top officers to become surrogate speakers for Bush. Nearly every presidential trip and ceremony has been turned into a showcase for the heir apparent.

After an initially lukewarm endorsement, in which his bumbling mispronunciation of Bush's name fueled rumors that he subconsciously resented the Vice President's candidacy, Reagan has become the most ardent of campaigners. He is convinced, aides say, that the first 100 days of a Dukakis Administration would leave the Reagan legacy in ruins. Said a White House aide: "The President is getting in there and mixing it up; this campaign is sugar for his metabolism."

The big push started with a sun-drenched Rose Garden ceremony last week, during which Reagan signed the fair housing bill and extolled Bush's "enormous courage" in voting for the original legislation 20 years ago. Later the President used the White House proclamation of Hispanic Heritage Week to spotlight Bush's child-care plan. Joining the battle between Bush and Michael Dukakis for the Hispanic vote, Reagan met with Hispanic newsmen and assured them of Bush's "warm feelings with regard to Hispanics." Reagan barnstormed through southeastern Missouri last week, labeling Democrats "trench-coat liberals" and darkly warning that a Dukakis presidency would resemble the horror film Nightmare on Elm Street.

Some have charged Reagan with misusing the presidency. Although most Presidents have used the White House for partisan purposes, critics say, there should be limits. Said Marvin Kalb, director of Harvard's center on the press, politics and public policy: "The President should be conducting the nation's business, but when he does it in a highly partisan way, there is the perception that he is at least unfair, if not improper."

Senior White House aides say that Reagan's backing of Bush never interferes with official duties; all campaign trips are funded by the Republican Party. The main reason things mesh so smoothly is the eight-year friendship between White House Chief of Staff Kenneth Duberstein and Bush's campaign chairman, James Baker. Said an official: "It's a policy of daily contact and no surprises."

The Dukakis campaign has been slow to use its own institutional advantage: Senate Democrats. After the convention, party leaders waited in irritation for calls that never came. Groused a Senator's aide: "It was a 'We know best' attitude." Belatedly, Sam Nunn, Les Aspin, Al Gore and John Glenn were summoned by Dukakis last week.

Only three Presidents in this century have had the opportunity to campaign for their Vice President to succeed them. Dwight Eisenhower passed up the opportunity to exert himself on behalf of Richard Nixon, who lost in 1960. Lyndon Johnson was not asked to campaign for Hubert Humphrey, and he lost too. This time both the President and his Vice President feel they have something to gain by sticking together.