President Bush said privately yesterday that he believes Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) will be a tough and hard-charging opponent, but said he feels he is starting the general election from a stronger position than he did in 2000.
Bush's views emerged from an unusual 80-minute session in the Oval Office with five network correspondents who agreed that his comments would not be directly quoted or attributed to him.
Word of the meeting got around before it was over. Several people provided accounts of it to The Washington Post but spoke only on the condition of anonymity because, in the view of the White House and by the agreement of the networks, the conversation never officially occurred.
White House correspondent David Gregory dropped a hint on "NBC Nightly News," saying that "the president has told people he believes tonight's Super Tuesday results mark the real beginning of the general election." Gregory added: "Feeling that his conservative base is secure, Mr. Bush is now studying Kerry's positions and preparing to target the senator's record."
Bush is running behind Kerry in polls and has spent recent months on the defensive over the case he made for war in Iraq, his service in the National Guard and his economic policies. Another sign of the administration's engagement in the campaign yesterday was Vice President Cheney giving interviews to three cable networks. The Bush-Cheney campaign will begin its paid ads tomorrow.
The Oval Office session was designed to show Bush as eager to campaign and fight back against Kerry, and to portray the president as engaged in the issues of the day. The meeting was supposed to run just half an hour, and Bush seemed to enjoy showing that he could handle whatever topics were fired at him, according to the accounts.
White House reporters have been complaining about their lack of access to Bush, and aides hoped to recapture some of the camaraderie of his campaign plane early in the 2000 race, when he engaged reporters with long, off-the-record chats.
Most of the session concerned the election. Bush said he feels well-positioned and is eager to charge out now that he has an opponent. He plans to be in full campaign mode by summer. Bush said that "we" will be pointing out what he considers contradictions and weaknesses in Kerry's record. He left the impression that although he does not come to work every day thinking about his opponent, he will not be shy about personally portraying the senator as a serial flip-flopper.
Bush talked at length about foreign policy and said Osama bin Laden is still at large, likely on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Bush spoke on "deep background," meaning that the information can be used but not attributed to anyone. The session was rare for a president, though not unprecedented. Bush has occasionally spoken to network anchors and conservative columnists as a "senior administration official," and President Bill Clinton sometimes spoke off the record to reporters on Air Force One, in the Oval Office and at dinners on foreign trips.
Joe Lockhart, former press secretary to Clinton, said that such sessions are valuable for both sides, although tidbits inevitably leak out. "Because the rules are so complicated or often ignored, we cut the president off from what is surely a valuable conversation," he said.
Yesterday's participants were given little notice but were told to come to the office of press secretary Scott McClellan -- with their suit jackets.
