Bush worked the tables slowly. He told Ruby, and later the crowd, that at the earlier reception he was delighted to see Ruby's mother and brother. Ruby said that "for a second-generation immigrant from Cleveland, having the vice president in his home was really something."
Addressing the heavy-hitter crowd, Bush pointed out that he worked for a President who "has done what six years ago nobody would have predicted." Reagan, Bush said, transcends individual issues and party labels.
Bush, naturally, flirted with his own presidential ambitions. "I do not know what this future holds," he said, bringing laughs when he added that he was not "devoid of ambitions."
He also sent out a strong signal for his campaign, saying that the Republican Party must be "inclusive," and that the GOP "has a lot of reason to be optimistic about the future, and I am one to believe that people vote on their pocketbooks."
ARTSY--The County Museum of Art opened its "Masterpieces From the Shin'enkan Collection" exhibit Wednesday night with a fancy black-tie gala. On hand was Joe Price, the donor of the collection and a big giver to the $5-million Pavilion for Japanese Art. He chatted with Yukiyasu and Misako Togo in the Ahmanson Building, where the collection is being shown. More than 1,000 turned out, including Taizo Watanabe, Leonard and Janice Weil (he's the president and CEO of Mitsui Manufacturers Bank) and museum board president Julian and Jo Ann Ganz.
