Bush Stumbles

It should have been a good week for George Bush. With the Democrats in disarray over Gary Hart, the Vice President maintains a comfortable edge over his strongest challenger, Republican Senator Robert Dole. Last week's poll for TIME by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman found Bush ahead of Dole, 40% to 20%, as the first choice of likely G.O.P. voters. After bidding Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev farewell at the airport, Bush seemed to bask in the summit's afterglow. But by Friday, the front runner had stumbled over two minor mishaps and allowed his staff to make him sound like a beleaguered underdog.

The first sour note was struck when Dole appeared beside Ronald Reagan in the White House to announce halfheartedly that he would support the INF missile treaty. Dole has been waffling on the treaty in an attempt to appease G.O.P. right-wingers, while Bush loyally endorsed the deal. Reagan, who needs the backing of Senate Republicans to ratify his treaty, was in the awkward position of seeming to boost Dole's faltering campaign.

When the White House invited Dole to appear with the President, the Bush campaign reacted immediately. "We had Dole finished," an aide complained to staffers in the office of Reagan's chief of staff, Howard Baker, "and now you're letting him up." Despite the grousing, the White House refused to rescind the invitation. Said an Administration official of the Bush campaign: "They're behaving like children."

Bush's more serious problem concerned the Administration's arms-for-hostages deals with Iran. The congressional Iran-contra committees released a memo from former National Security Adviser John Poindexter citing the Vice President as a strong supporter of the policy. Dated Feb. 1, 1986, the memo states that "president and v.p. are solid in taking the position that we have to try." Bush has said he expressed "reservations" about the plan, although he approved of it. The new memo proved that "I stood with the President," he said. Despite the difficult week, he added, "I've never felt stronger politically."