Bush backers come from many camps

By RICHARD DANIELSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 26, 1999

TAMPA -- Maybe, just maybe, Lamar Alexander or Steve Forbes has a few supporters tucked away in a cove hidden somewhere in the Tampa Bay area, but it sure didn't look that way at Friday's $1,000-a-plate lunch for Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

In his first local appearance as a presidential candidate, Bush packed a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Westshore with about 600 ardent supporters, along with a few of the just plain curious, from across west-central Florida and beyond. The crowd included a cross-section of Tampa Bay's business-and-power elite as well as a few registered Democrats.

"Technically, the chairman has to remain neutral," Hillsborough County GOP chairwoman Margie Kincaid said. That disclaimer aside, she added: "But I think that George W. Bush is like a tida

	Bush swoops through state scooping up cash Bush's Liberty City Charter School scores a D

l wave. He's got the name, he's got the charisma and he's got the money."

And for now, he's got what his father once called "Big Mo" -- political momentum.

Kincaid said she knows of a small group of local Republicans "who would die for Pat Buchanan" as well as a few more well-heeled supporters who are sticking with Alexander.

But, she said, when the telephone rings at party headquarters these days, it is usually from people motivated by news of the Texas governor.

"All Jeb's people are going to go for George W.," she said.

Much of the Legislature is going for him, too. Bush walked out of the hotel ballroom with pledge cards signed by 70 of the 73 Republicans in the House, including Rep. Rudy Bradley, R-St. Petersburg.

"My impression is that he's a moderate," Bradley said. "He seems like a very pragmatic, down-home type of person."

Other Pinellas County faces in the crowd included St. Petersburg City Council member Larry Williams and Dunedin Mayor Tom Anderson, as well as developer Lee Arnold and restaurateur Ed Droste. The luncheon committee also included Pinellas developer Fred Bullard, Dr. A.K. Desai and the family of St. Petersburg developer Mel Sembler, who, as GOP national finance chairman, is not aligned publicly with any candidate.

The crowd also included a number of Tallahassee lobbyists and more than a few prominent local lawyers, among them Tom Gonzalez, Joe Ficarrotta, Gary Trombley and Ron Weaver. The lawyers might have gulped at Bush's somewhat vague but emphatic call for tort reform -- a big applause line for the rest of the crowd -- but they said that didn't dampen their support.

"I've been a Democrat all my life, and I've supported Democrats and I'm ready to make the switch," Trombley said.

Prominent Tampa auto dealer Jim Ferman, a Democrat, said he was attending the lunch because he was curious about the Texas governor.

"That's why I'm here," Ferman said. "By party affiliation I'm a Democrat, but by voting record I'm a Republican."

State Rep. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, supported Lamar Alexander four years ago because he thought Alexander provided a moderate and sensible counterweight to Bill Clinton. But two months ago Crist decided to go with Bush, who he said has compassion, strength and ideas that appeal to Crist on areas such as criminal justice.

"This time around, I chose George Bush because I had a chance to review his record and his accomplishments," Crist said.

He also has had a chance to meet Bush, whose conversational focus reminded him a lot of the current occupant of the White House.

"This man talked to me, and listened to me and responded to the things I had to say," Crist said.

-- Times political editor Tim Nickens contributed to this report.

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