Campaign Trail

Bush pitches to Latinos, gays; takes in ballgame

George W. Bush, speaking Spanish and talking schools while stumping in California on Friday, repudiated the immigration policies of former Gov. Pete Wilson. Bush told Spanish-speaking women he understood why poor Mexicans want to move here. He also reached out to gay Californians, saying he would meet with members of a gay GOP group.

Courting the Hispanic vote in California, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee spoke Spanish occasionally as he addressed a crowd of hundreds of women.

Wilson battled against affirmative action, bilingual education and illegal immigration during his years as California governor, from 1991 to 1999. Those fights alienated many Hispanic voters, who now constitute nearly 15 percent of the electorate in the nation’s largest state.

Reaching out to gays, another group of voters who have seldom identified with the Republican Party, Bush said he has invited members of the Log Cabin Republicans to visit the governor’s mansions soon.

Late Friday, Bush and his wife took in the Houston Astros home opener, sitting behind home plate near Kenneth Lay, head of the Texas-based energy giant Enron Corp., and the biggest benefactor of George W. Bush’s political career. Lay and his employees have donated more than $500,000 to Bush’s campaigns over the years, and Lay is one of the Bush “pioneers” who raised $100,000 for his White House bid.

Gore talks about everything but Elian in Florida swing

On a campaign swing across Florida on Friday, Vice President Al Gore talked about Social Security, racial profiling, insurance coverage for contraception, even the Microsoft case - in short, everything but Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old Cuban boy who has dominated local and national media coverage here for weeks.

In the span of a week, Gore has gone from issuing a statement at odds with the administration’s position in the emotionally charged case, to making a series of confusing comments to remaining silent Friday, while Attorney General Janet Reno said she would issue an order that the boy be handed over to his father next week.