tricks" by the Bush campaign. Bush responded by dismissing Robertson's charges as
"crazy" and "absurd." Robertson had been linking Bush to the "international banking
community" in his South Carolina campaigning. [fn 33]
True to his Southern Strategy, Atwater had "front-loaded" Bush's effort in the southern
states with money, political operatives, and television, straining the legal limit of what
could be spent during the primary season as whole. A few days before Super Tuesday
came the South Carolina primary. Here Bush appeared before a group of two dozen
evangelical fundamentalist ministers and declared with a straight face: "Jesus Christ is
my personal savior." The state's governor, Carol Campbell, was a former customer of Lee
Atwater's. Strom Thurmond was for Dole, but his endorsement proved to be valueless.
Here Bush got all the state's 37 delegates by scoring 48% of the vote to 21% for Dole,
19% for Robertson, and 11% for Kemp.
On the way to Super Tuesday, Bush stopped off in Miami to address a constituency with
which he had been closely associated for three decades: the Miami Cubans. Bush was
joined by Barry Goldwater and Florida Governor Bob Martinez, later chosen as field
marshal of Bush's phony war on drugs. There was a good turnout of Republican Cuban
Americans, who lionized George and also his son Jeb Bush, the former Dade County
GOP chair who was now the Florida Secretary of Commerce. Obviously with some help
from the family network, Jeb had been lobbying the Immigration and Naturalization
Service to procure work permits for the wave of Nicaraguan emigres flooding into south
Florida, not a few of whom were part of the contra drug-running operations. The rally
was held at Florida International University, and before his main speech Bush talked to a
class in international relations, where he wore his old obsessions on his sleeve. Had there
been any sign of a change in Fidel Castro, a student wanted to know. "No," said Bush,
"and our policy will not change toward Fidel Castro."
Bush was shocked when Professor Mark Rosenberg of the FIU Latin American
Caribbean Center introduced him to the rally in terms that were somewhat short of
panegyric. Rosenberg noted that Bush had been part of "questionable political decision
making" in the Iran-contrea scandal and also referred to the "high sleaze factor" of the
Reagan-Bush regime. "Does [Bush] have the will to clean up the Reagan economic
mess?," asked Rosenberg. "Time will tell." Rosenberg was grabbed by the shoulders and
hustled off the platform by FIU President and presumed Bushman Modesto Madique.
Bush built his speech around a promise that no Cuban-Americans would be deported to
Cuba under a Bush administration. "They are fleeing oppressive Marxism under Fidel
Castro and they will not be treated as though they were coming in here for some other
[economic] purpose," intoned Bush. There were shouts of "Ariba!" from a crowd that
contained knots of marielitos, those who came during Castro's boat lift. It was a promise
that Bush was to violate in any case, as some prison riots later on would remind the
public. [fn 34]
Then, in the March 8 Super Tuesday polling, Bush scored an across-the board triumph,
winning in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennesse, Virginia, Missouri, and Maryland,