open-minded and informed voters." Jaworski assailed Carter as a "Democrat in despair,"
and called on the Texas voters "to pay no attention to the also-rans who marched to the
altar of public opinion, wooing the voters with large campaign chests and who are now
back home licking their wounds as rejected suitors." This was a veiled attack on
Connally, who had spent $12 million getting one Arkansas delegate, dropped out, and
endorsed Reagan. Jaworski's Watergate-era loyalties ran deep. [fn 24]
Bush still claimed that Texas was his home state, so he was obliged to make an effort
there in advance of the May 3 primary. Here Bush spent about half a million dollars on
television, while the Reaganauts were unable to buy time owing to their lack of money;
Reagan had now reached his FEC spending ceiling. The secret society issue was as big in
Texas as it had been in New Hampshire; during an appearance at the University of Texas
Bush delivered a whining ultimatum to Reagan to order his campaign workers to "stop
passing out insidious literature" questioning Bush's patriotism because of his membership
in the Trilateral Commission, which Bush characterized as a group that sought to improve
US relations with our closest allies. He wanted Reagan to repudiate thie entire line of
attack, which was still hurting the Bushmen badly. During a five-day plane-hopping blitz
of the state, Bush came across as "cryptically hawkish".
Despite the lack of money for television, Reagan defeated Bush by 52% to 47% of the
half a million votes cast. But because of the winner-take-all rule in individual precincts,
Reagan took 61 delegates to Bush's 19. Bush's only areas of strength were in his old
Houston liberal Republican enclave and in northwest Dallas. Reagan swept the rest,
especially the rural areas. [fn 25 ]
The issue became acute among the Bushmen on May 20. This was the day Bush won in
Michigan, but that Bush win was irrelevant because Reagan, by winning the Nebraska
primary the same day, had acquired enough pledged delegates to acquire the arithmetical
certainty of being nominated on the first ballot. In the tradition of Dink Stover at Yale,
which says that one must not be a quitter, Bush made some noises about going on to Ohio
and to California on the outside chance that Reagan might self-destruct through some
horrendous gaffe, but this was merely histrionics. Bush allowed himself to be convinced
that discretion was the better part of valor by David Keene and speechwriter (and later
red Studebaker biographer) Vic Gold. His campaign was now $400,000 in debt, but
Mosbacher later claimed to have wiped that slate clean within two months. Bush
officially capitulated on May 26, 1980, and declared that he would support Reagan all the
way to November. Reagan, campaigning that day at the San Bernardino County
Fairgrounds, commended Bush's campaign and thanked him for his support.
All the money and organization had not sufficed. Bush now turned his entire attention to
the quest for his "birthright," the vice presidency. This would be his fifth attempt to attain
that office, and once again, despite the power of Bush's network, success was uncertain.
Inside the Reagan camp, one of Bush's greatest assets would be William Casey, who had
been closely associated with the late Prescott Bush. Casey was to be Reagan's campaign
manager for the 1980 elections. In 1962, Prescott and Casey had co-founded a think tank