Bush-Buchanan Primary Race Takes on Air of Civility : Republicans: The President’s criticism of challenger is mild. His rival abandons caustic attacks used earlier.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Bush and his upstart GOP challenger, Patrick J. Buchanan, opened the final week of primary campaigning here with a civility that was both politically inspired and probably short-lived.

Bush, in an interview from the White House with two New Hampshire radio stations, defended his economic recovery package on which his campaign is basing much of its strategy for next Tuesday’s primary.

In fairly mild tones, he also complained about Buchanan’s challenge, saying that he “would like to get through this primary without going after another Republican.”

“When you’re sitting down here trying to make some decisions affecting the whole country, I guess it would be nice not to have to be attacked from the right,” said Bush, who has gone out of his way to publicly play down concerns about Buchanan’s candidacy.

“But I’m getting attacked from the left every single day, as you know, so I don’t know that it makes that much difference.”

Bush’s presence on the airwaves offered the image, albeit unseen, of an incumbent President campaigning at sunup, much as he did four years ago and much as Buchanan and five major Democratic candidates have been doing for weeks.

The President’s remarks about Buchanan seemed tailored to Bush’s game plan--holding off a more strident assault for as long as possible, while simultaneously suggesting to GOP voters here that the commentator’s challenge is less than helpful when it comes to holding on to the White House.

Buchanan’s Monday strategy also was dictated by political realities. Having hammered Bush directly for weeks with no apparent result, he suddenly shifted gears. In speeches and in new commercials, Buchanan junked most of his highly caustic anti-Bush lines and instead ticked off his own proposals for restoring the nation’s economic health.

Before evangelical ministers in Bedford and Rotary Club members in Nashua, and on television ads airing throughout the state, Buchanan said he would demand a federal hiring and spending freeze and would institute a two-year moratorium on government regulations. He also pledged to impose a line-item veto, to campaign around the nation for congressional term limits and to use the mandate of election to push “dramatic tax cuts” through Congress.

Without so much as mentioning Bush, Buchanan told the ministers that he would enforce a socially conservative agenda by pressing for constitutional guarantees for voluntary prayer and Bible instruction in the schools.

Calling abortion “the greatest and ugliest scar across the face of America the Beautiful,” he pledged to veto any money directed to abortion-rights programs.

Until now, most of Buchanan’s speeches and all of his advertising has revolved around Bush, specifically the President’s broken pledge not to raise taxes and the increases in federal spending during his presidency.

Alluding to his change of focus, Buchanan told his Nashua audience that they would decide whether to deliver Bush a “vote of confidence” for his tenure as President.

“You’ve heard my ads, I’m sure,” he said, joking that “3-year-olds in day-care centers are chanting, ‘Read my lips, no new taxes.’ ”

“As of today, that case is made,” Buchanan added. “We know what Mr. Bush has done, we know his record . . . now we’ve got to decide which way we’re going to go.”

The former television commentator’s strategic reversal stems from the realization that his anti-Bush campaign had yet to lift him into contention here and that voters are demanding specifics.

“People here are hungry for the positive message,” said Buchanan spokesman Greg Mueller. “Basically, we’re doing what the people want.”

A series of recent polls, including one published Sunday in The Times, showed that Buchanan has loosely captured about 30% of the vote here. Many polls, however, indicate that Buchanan has not been able to develop his candidacy beyond that point and that voters were increasingly turned off by his anti-Bush advertisements.

The more positive message of Buchanan’s current ads is likely to end soon. By Wednesday, the day Bush formally announces his candidacy, Buchanan expects to begin airing so-called “man in the street” ads in which New Hampshirites will complain about the depth of their dissatisfaction with Bush.

“It’s important in this election to show the face of human suffering,” said Buchanan’s national political director, Paul Erickson.

The President also emphasized the economy in his radio interview Monday with stations WGIR and WFEA, complaining about economic growth proposals advanced by several Democrats that would include tax cuts.

Bush’s efforts on his own behalf thus far have been focused largely on the economic package he unveiled two weeks ago in his State of the Union address. In commercials running here, he asks voters to signal their support for the proposals--and their disdain for Congress--by voting for him next Tuesday.

Regarding the alternative Democratic plans, Bush said Monday that the economy “doesn’t need these broad proposals to cut everybody’s taxes at a time when we’ve got these enormous deficits.”

Rather, he said, he preferred programs that he likened to “these laser-like beams” aimed specifically at real estate and student loan programs--”these things that will really help families and will not increase the deficit.”

Bush’s economic program would allow first-time home buyers to use individual retirement account savings for home purchases.

“It’s something that will work, stimulate the real estate (market) and put some value under people’s real estate, their homes,” he said.

Until now, Bush’s major presence in New Hampshire has been in the form of advertising and a continuous stream of conservative surrogates who have touted his candidacy. Former President Ronald Reagan entered the ranks of the surrogates Saturday night with a taped address to conservatives in Manchester in which he praised Bush as the best hope for Republicans.

But in the last week here, Bush will be ubiquitous. He is due to spend three of the next five days in New Hampshire, and will talk to the state’s news media outlets on other occasions.

The President’s goal is to put down the Buchanan challenge as much as possible in New Hampshire, rather than having to fight the conservative commentator during the next round of voting in the South.

Although Buchanan is given little chance of actually winning next Tuesday, the Bush campaign also wants to avoid the embarrassment of a close primary race.