WASHINGTON — Launching a preemptive strike against the Republican front-runner, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee is asserting that Texas Gov. George W. Bush lacks the experience and leadership skills to serve as president.
"He wouldn't be in this race if his name were not Bush," said Chairman Roy Romer in an interview that he requested with The Times. "He would be regarded as maybe one of the top 20 governors in the United States. But he wouldn't be a leading candidate for president."
Romer's unusually early offensive against Bush, who has not even formally declared his candidacy, underscores the extent to which Democrats expect to be facing the Texas governor in next year's presidential race.
Looking at Romer's remarks through that lens, Karen Hughes, Bush's communications director, dismissed them as a sign of Democratic anxiety. "The chairman of the DNC is very worried that Gov. Bush will be the next Republican nominee, because he knows that if he [is], Gov. Bush will be the next president."
Romer acknowledged that he made his comments now because Bush has emerged as "such a clear front-runner" and is poised for his first campaign swings next month, first to Iowa and New Hampshire, then to a wider list of states, including California.
"I just think everybody in Iowa and New Hampshire and New York and California need to begin to focus on the real questions," said Romer, a former governor of Colorado. "The real question is having the name George W. Bush isn't going to get you there; it is do you have the leadership, the experience, the issues."
For months, national polls have shown Bush, 52, holding a commanding lead in the Republican presidential primary and a double-digit advantage over Vice President Al Gore in early tests of sentiment for next year's general election. But Bush has remained in Texas, and has kept a low profile in most national debates, while focusing on the state legislative session that is scheduled to conclude today.
Previewing what are likely to become Democratic refrains as Bush finally steps onto the campaign trail, Romer criticized the Texas governor along two principal lines.
First, he questioned whether Bush, whose sole service in public office has been his five years as Texas governor, has sufficient experience to serve as "leader of the free world," as Romer put it.
