HARLESTON, S.C. - First he went from a navy-blue business suit to a casual windbreaker. Then Texas Governor George W. Bush, flying by private plane from Michigan to South Carolina, shifted into a deep Southern drawl during campaign stops with hundreds of seniors and loyal Republican supporters.
Throughout, however, Bush hammered away at a single message: that his tax plan was superior to the one released yesterday by Senator John McCain. Basking in the warm reception of a group of barbecue-fed elderly supporters at the Florence Civic Center, he also declared himself the candidate more devoted to saving the Social Security program. Earlier in the day, he released a campaign ad to the same effect.
''I love my cats and my dog. I love my home. But I love my country more,'' Bush said to the crowd, explaining his decision to run for president. ''I believe it's important for us to make sure the Social Security system is safe and secure today, and safe and secure tomorrow.''
McCain in recent days has focused his criticism of Bush's tax plan on how it would use the federal budget surplus. Under the Bush plan, the surplus would translate into a five-year, $483 billion tax cut for earners in all tax brackets.
McCain's tax plan, however, would use the budget surplus to earmark $700 billion to shore up Social Security. His five-year, $237 billion tax-cut plan would also encourage savings among members of the middle class, work to protect Medicare and aim to reduce the national debt.
Yesterday, Bush took aim at McCain, ridiculing him for changing his tax plan to appear more like the one the Texas governor released months ago. But the thrust of his argument was that the budget surplus belonged to taxpayers. Under his own plan, Bush said, excess funds ''would be passed back to hard-working Americans.''
''Senator McCain's plan would leave more money in Washington to be spent on more government,'' he said.
Bush also repeated his familiar aims of ''compassionate conservatism,'' closing the ''gap of hope,'' and bolstering the nation's armed forces, all of which drew applause. He pledged to return education funds to states, telling supporters: ''Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?''
Taxes ruled the day, however, and Bush swiftly dismissed McCain's expansion of the 15 percent tax bracket as a trick of the eye. ''If you simply expand the 15 percent tax bracket, there are a lot of people who are not going to get tax relief,'' Bush said. According to a statement released by the Bush campaign just hours after McCain announced his proposal, 70 million taxpayers are already in the 15 percent tax bracket. Therefore, expanding that bracket to other taxpayers would deny a huge swath of the country the benefits of a tax cut.
Bush's plan is nearly double in size and is far more sweeping, with proposals to double the $500-per-child tax credit and cut all income taxes throughout the country. He has not designated any of his tax plan for Medicare. A campaign spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said to do so would be premature until all Medicare fraud has been eradicated. As for Social Security, Bush has devised a separate $2 trillion Social Security ''lock box.''
Despite the differences between the two, both candidates kept their promise, made during a debate Monday night, to refrain from negative remarks.
Bush, relaxed and confident after arriving in a state where he is well ahead of McCain in the polls, told reporters: ''We've had a difference, and now he's revising his tax plan, and I've always felt it was important to lay out a plan that I could defend from beginning to end.''
He began the day in Grand Rapids, with Republican Governor John Engler, one of Bush's most successful campaign fund-raisers and a potential candidate for a Bush administration. After flying to a barbecue in Florence, S.C., he flew to an oyster roast in Charleston before returning to Columbia, the state capital, for the night. Later this week he will travel to Delaware, New Hampshire and Iowa - his longest campaign swing to date.
Bush will not, however, participate in a series of one-on-one debates with McCain before the New Hampshire primary Feb. 1, although McCain on Monday had accepted the invitation from a Boston television station. To do so, Bush said, would ''let a TV station winnow down the field.''
''I don't think that's fair,'' he said.
