The Sons Also Rise

By S.C. GWYNNE/TAMPA

"That young Bush boy, you know, the former President's son? He talks a good game, but has he ever done anything? . . . Every business he has ever been involved with had to be bailed out by his daddy's friends. Seems like he always gets to start at the top."

The boy in question is George W. Bush, 48, Republican candidate for Governor of Texas. The text -- part of a recent political ad -- is the handiwork of the campaign staff of incumbent Governor Ann Richards, who gained notoriety at the 1988 Democratic Convention when she said President Bush had been "born with a silver foot in his mouth." Though the ad is not entirely true, it neatly summarizes the problem facing George W. and his younger brother Jeb, 41, who last week became the Republican nominee for Governor of Florida. In their campaigns for public office they are clearly -- and unapologetically -- riding Dad's coattails in states that he carried in both 1988 and 1992; they are also struggling mightily to convince voters that they are strong politicians in their own right.

Against considerable odds, they are succeeding. In Florida's Republican primary Sept. 8, Jeb polled 46%, 10 points higher than anyone had predicted, in a tough field of six candidates. Last week the rival candidate in a runoff decided to withdraw, leaving Jeb as the party's nominee. In a poll taken several weeks before the primary, he had pulled to within 3 percentage points of incumbent Governor Lawton Chiles. In Texas the most recent poll showed young George leading Ann Richards by a point, in spite of her enormous popularity and 60% job-approval rating.

As political animals, the Bush brothers are strikingly similar. Both cut their teeth in Dad's campaigns; both are flush with money gathered with the help of the decades-old Bush fund-raising apparatus that covers all 50 states; both use operatives from their father's previous campaigns. On the issues their campaigns are virtual carbon copies. They consider the No. 1 issue to be crime, especially juvenile crime. They call for longer sentences and expansion of their states' overcrowded jails. They champion the right of local communities to run their own school systems. They say welfare should be cut off after two years; they oppose gay rights, and abortion in most cases. They favor the death penalty. Their basic message: reduce the size and influence of government.

The common Bush traits extend to their personal life as well. The brothers were itching to run for office in the 1980s but were counseled by their parents to, in effect, make something of themselves before running. They complied. George W. made his first million in the oil business and in 1989 became managing partner of the Texas Rangers; Jeb made his first million in real estate and recently became a partner in the Jacksonville Jaguars, a new N.F.L. franchise. Though they come from a family of certified New England blue bloods, they are Texas boys by upbringing and have few lingering ties to the snobby Episcopalianism of Greenwich, Connecticut, where their father grew up.

Of the two, George W. has had the most complicated relationship with his father. Like his dad, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Yale. Though he had a tempestuous relationship with his father -- he once challenged him to a fight -- he continued to follow in his footsteps. He became a pilot in the National Guard. In 1974 he decided to move to Midland, Texas, just as his father had in 1950, looking to cash in on an oil boom. "He fights his father at the same time that he embraces him," says a friend.

In the White House, where he was known to his chagrin as "Junior," George W. developed a reputation as a fierce partisan. When it came time to fire chief of staff John Sununu, George W. did the dirty work for his father. In his gubernatorial campaign in Texas, young George has avoided political appearances with his father, whose role has been limited to attendance at several fund raisers. "I am very comfortable with my relationship with my dad," says George W. "He is a big plus for me, and I will not try to run away from him. But it is very important for people to not get confused about whether or not I can be Governor. And one way to create confusion in their minds is to go stumping around the state with him." George W. fully intends to roll out Barbara Bush on the campaign trail. "My mother will help," he says. "I'm sure she will."

Jeb, whose name is an acronym for John Ellis Bush, has seemingly fewer problems with his father. Like George W., he went to Andover but then attended the University of Texas. He met a Mexican girl named Columba on an exchange program and married her. (He is fluent in Spanish.) Jeb worked briefly for Texas Commerce Bank, moved to Florida in the late 1970s and later worked on his father's 1988 campaign. While he and a partner built up their real estate company, Jeb was named head of the Dade County Republican Party. Later, he was * appointed secretary of commerce for the state of Florida. Along the way, several of Jeb's former business associates landed on the wrong side of the law, and he has been embroiled in controversy several times about his business deals. "In hindsight," he says, "I would not have associated with people who turned out to be dishonest. I'll have to deal with that this fall, I'm sure." Jeb's comfort level with his father was apparent last week, when he and the former President made joint appearances in Florida.

Both sons are immensely talented campaigners. George W. bristles with purpose and cracks wise. While he is built like a second baseman, Jeb inherited his father's long limbs. At 6 ft. 2 in., he is an imposing presence with a gentle demeanor. George tends to generalize in his speeches; Jeb is loaded with statistics.

How does the former President plan to help? "I'm staying out of the way on the issues," he told TIME's Hugh Sidey. "The national press would like to say, 'Here's what the father believes, here's what the son now thinks.' They don't need that. They don't need anything to do with Washington." Except for occasional phone calls, he and Barbara have deliberately stayed in the background. "We don't hover," Bush said. "It's more the personal touch. They know what I know about politics. And they don't need a presence. They might need somebody to lift them up if they get bruised. But . . . it's their time. I've had my time."

If the grandsons of Senator Prescott Bush and sons of President George Bush win on Nov. 8, the Bush family can lay claim to one of America's most unusual political dynasties. No former President has ever had two sons as Governors at the same time. Jeb and George W. need only convince voters that they have earned the right, not inherited it. Says their dad: "I may get a line in the Guinness Book and a great deal of pride and a lot more baby-sitting duties."