Bush Links Gulf War to Soviet Freedom : Politics: Spokeswoman cautions against taking the suggestion ‘too literally.’ The Iraq conflict may be a repeated campaign theme.

President Bush ventured into the stormy world of California politics Thursday, testing a divisive campaign theme that singled out those who backed him in the war against Iraq for a commitment to “the cause of freedom” he said was instrumental in pushing communism into collapse.

The suggestion that those who instead opposed the use of force might somehow have prolonged the communist reign widened what is expected to be a broad Republican charge that Democrats represent a vision that lies on the wrong side of history.

In welcoming the “mind-boggling” pace of recent change, including the movement toward democracy in “what used to be called the Soviet Union,” Bush charged: “These changes couldn’t have taken place if Congress hadn’t authorized the use of force to stop a brutal dictator.”

Bush delivered the remarks at an Oregon fund-raiser just before arriving in Los Angeles to speak at a dinner in honor of freshman Republican Sen. John Seymour of California, whose first official action as a senator was to vote for the resolution that authorized the use of force.

“Sen. Seymour wasted no time in making a mark for himself on Capitol Hill,” Bush said, praising what he called “a momentous vote” in a Senate that supported the President by only a 52-47 margin.

At the Oregon event Bush delivered a subtle poke at those who had opposed him, hailing Oregon Republican Sen. Bob Packwood as “one of those people who, against the opinion polls of the moment, stood with me in that historic debate.”

A White House spokeswoman cautioned against taking “too literally” the suggestion of a link between the war against Iraq and the dismemberment of Soviet communism. But she said the United States had set an example in standing up against Iraqi aggression that may have served as inspiration to those who resisted the Soviet coup.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) opposed Bush in the crucial resolution, arguing that sanctions should be given more time to work. Harkin has announced his presidential candidacy and Kerrey is expected to do so Sept. 30.

Throughout a five-state tour marking the first major swing of his own still-undeclared campaign, Bush left little doubt that the Gulf War and the revolution in the Soviet Union would be key reelection themes.

In a speech Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Bush evoked an image of a “wonderful life that lies ahead” in a world “moving toward democracy and freedom.”

Gesturing to a small boy standing near him on the stage, Bush said: “I believe that the things that have happened in the world just in the last few months guarantee that this guy won’t have to be looking over his shoulder worrying about nuclear weapons.”

But with Bush himself conceding that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction remain a real threat--and new indications that the United States might again dispatch military force to the region--his emphasis on Operation Desert Storm could open the way to charges that he left the job undone.

Bush also sought again Thursday to call attention to his domestic record, visiting a construction site in Los Angeles for the new Century Freeway and Metro Rail’s Green Line. He urged Congress to approve a five-year spending plan for highways and other transportation programs.

The Senate has already passed legislation authorizing $123 billion in transportation spending, about $18 billion more than that proposed by the Administration, and the House appears likely to call for even more spending.

But Bush, whose plan would require state and local governments to shoulder an increased share of transportation spending, attacked the congressional measures. “We don’t want a bill that paves America with special interest, with pork,” he said.

The President’s visit to California and his embrace of Seymour followed by days a state Republican Party convention that displayed increasingly vocal factionalism.

The titular head of the state Republican Party, Gov. Pete Wilson, made only a brief visit to the Anaheim convention and was unceremoniously rebuked by delegates during two days of deliberations. Seymour too was snubbed by delegates, with about 300 walking out of his keynote speech in protest Sunday.

Among California Republicans, Seymour and, to a larger extent, Wilson represent the more progressive wing of the party and are under fire from more conservative Republicans, who strongly oppose new taxes and abortion rights and favor off-shore oil drilling.

The conservatives have bridled at what they see as interference from national Republicans on behalf of Wilson and Seymour. But little grumbling has been directed at Bush himself, despite his early endorsement of Seymour against other Republicans, including U.S. Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton.

Asked about Bush’s view about the state GOP dispute, White House deputy press secretary Judy Smith insisted: “There is no rift.” Saying there was “room for diversity” among California Republicans, she added: “What they have in common is support for President Bush.”

Outside the Seymour dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel, several hundred demonstrators protested what they said were Bush’s insufficient attention to the AIDS epidemic and his Administration’s support of the Yugoslav army in its war against Croatian separatists.

Bush’s attendance at the $1,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner was expected to benefit Seymour in two ways--first, by adding an estimated $700,000 to the senator’s campaign treasury, and second, by visually linking the politically popular President with Seymour, who is not well known in California even after eight months in office.

And much as the President is expected to use his Gulf War performance as a rationale for his reelection, so does Seymour repeatedly emphasize that his first vote in the Senate was to support U.S. military action in the Gulf.

Seymour and his campaign strategists believe the issue will be particularly important in next fall’s general election, when the senator is expected to battle Democrat Dianne Feinstein, former mayor of San Francisco. Feinstein, the only Democrat who has announced plans to run for the Seymour seat, initially opposed U.S. military action in Iraq. Later, however, she said she had changed her mind and retroactively supported the President.

As the President, Seymour and others toured the Metro Rail construction site Thursday, a Seymour campaign film team accompanied them, shooting footage that will likely make its way to the television screens of California voters next year.