BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- President Reagan, cheered as a hero retracing his steps from his 1984 landslide win, promoted Republican George Bush Wednesday as a candidate of peace and prosperity in a state Democrat Michael Dukakis cannot afford to lose.
But, even as the president insisted that 'the liberal presidential campaign' of the Massachusetts governor was 'starting to fall apart,' he borrowed a phrase from baseball's Yogi Berra to warn against Republicans becoming lazy because of strong polls in Bush's favor.
'It ain't over till it's over,' Reagan cautioned. 'No complacency, no overconfidence.'
'I have come to know George Bush very well,' Reagan said of his two-term running mate at a courthouse rally. 'And I also know what is required to be president of the United States, what is required of the man at the desk. And, ladies and gentlemen, George Bush is that man.'
Reagan's trip to Ohio, a state he visited four times in the 1984 presidential campaign, was an effort to put a dent in the Dukakis campaign strategy and unveil a new, more direct, sales pitch for Bush.
The Buckeye State, with 23 electoral votes, is considered to be leaning toward Bush. But Dukakis strategists have reportedly targeted it as a state they need to carry to win the White House.
Just two days after Dukakis stumped the state with a message of economic doubt and discontent, Reagan touted job creation and export growth achieved during the eight years he and Bush have 'worked side by side in the White House.'
Reagan's appeal on behalf of the vice president was warmer and more explicit than usual, marking what Bush campaign officials described as a new phase of the president's effort.
Keeping with the 'kinder, gentler' image Bush himself has sought to project, Reagan praised his loyal administration teammate as 'a friend of mine' and 'a man who is strong, decent, loyal, wise, capable and compassionate -- a man who has the qualities necessary to fill the office of president.' end advance material
The president's visit to Bowling Green, like an earlier appearance before wildly enthusiastic students at Ohio State Universit in Columbus, was reminiscent of stops he made in the latter phase of his successful 1984 campaign against Democrat Walter Mondale.
Clearly relishing his role as a Bush surrogate, Reagan reveled in his continued popularity, evidenced by an outpouring of support at Ohio State.
At the appearance, Bush campaign Chairman James Baker, who managed Reagan's 1984 effort, sat off to the side with a satisfied grin.
Nonetheless, Baker, a former White House chief of staff and treasury secretary, heeded Reagan's advice and cautioned against overconfidence at a time his candidate is far ahead in public opinion polls.
'We're going to continue to campaign as if we were the underdog, because for a long time, we were,' Baker said. 'It would be ridiculous to decompress. Remember, Hubert Humphrey made up 15 points in three weeks in 1968.'
At Ohio State, Reagan peppered his speech with at least 16 derogatory references to 'liberals' and made light of the problems Dukakis's campaign now faces.
In a familiar rebuttal to Democratic appeals for change, Reagan declared, 'We are the change. We began it eight years ago and the choice this year is to go forward with the change or to go back to the stagnant status quo of the past.'
'Yes, we've come a long way in the last eight years,' Reagan said. 'But, my friends, everything you and I and George Bush have worked for these last eight years -- everything -- could be lost faster than you can say the 'Pledge of Allegiance.' The liberals talk about reaching for the center. But from the economy to national defense, they've taken positions only a McGovern could love.'
The president ended his speech at Ohio State with what has become his signature political close: 'Win one for the Gipper.'
In the address, Reagan accused the Democrats of 'trying desperately to hide' their true ideological colors by adopting such GOP themes as economic opportunity, the family and a strong defense, and directed his appeal squarely at the swing voters Dukakis is now so desperate to woo to the Democratic column.
The president also asserted that when the Democrats emphasize the issue of 'competence' in the final throes of the campaign, 'they're just acknowledging that where they want to take America, America doesn't want to go -- that they're way over in left field, that they're out of the mainstream of American politics and that their policies are liberal, liberal, liberal.'
Reagan has always played well in Ohio, where three of the state's largest newspapers have endorsed Bush in recent days. However, his presence Wednesday was two-fold: Clinch the state for Bush and make a last-ditch effort to bolster the political fortunes for Cleveland Mayor George Voinovich, the underdog Republican challenger to veteran Democratic Sen. Howard Metzenbaum.
