Duke Likens Bush Campaign to Watergate

Gov. Michael S. Dukakis yesterday compared George Bush's campaign to the Watergate scandal of Richard Nixon, saying "truth was the first casualty" in both instances. Bush received new police endorsements along with the badge of a slain officer in New York.

The Democratic governor and the Republican vice president dueled from a distance on the campaign trail before sheathing their political swords and dining together at the annual, nonpartisan Alfred E. Smith charity dinner in Manhattan, sponsored by the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New York.

Dukakis, urged by supporters to get tough in the face of polls that show him trailing Bush, did just that during an appearance in New Haven, Conn.

"Truth was the first casualty in the Nixon White House and it was the first casualty in the Bush campaign," Dukakis said. "Above all, the truth should matter a lot in a presidential campaign because as we learned in Watergate, it matters a lot in the Oval Office."

"I believe the American people value the truth in politics, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure truth wins and that we win on the eighth of November," the Democratic nominee said.

Dukakis also made a point of drawing a distinction with Bush on the emotionally charged subject of abortion.

"George Bush wants the government to make one of the most personal choices a woman can make....I believe a choice that personal must be made by the woman herself."

In almost every speech he makes, Bush says he opposes almost all abortions while Dukakis does not.

Dukakis was greeted by news of a poll saying he is 10 points behind Bush in Connecticut, a state that borders his home base of Massachusetts. "You know the polls," Dukakis commented. "They go up and down."

Bush, campaigning in a state once considered a stronghold for Dukakis, traveled to the New York City borough of Queens to receive police endorsements and to campaign in a Democratic neighborhood.

Along with the badge of slain officer Edward Byrne came the endorsement of about 30 police organizations, including the 40,000-member Police Benevolent Association of New York.

"It's time for America to take back the streets," Bush said, calling the new police backing "an exclamation point" for his campaign. Both he and Dukakis have made much of endorsements from law-enforcement organizations during a campaign in which Bush has sought to portray Dukakis as soft on crime.

The vice president spoke at a high school in Queens, not far from where officer Byrne was shot last February in his car while guarding a witness in a drug case.

The slain officer's father, Matthew Byrne, a retired New York police lieutenant, said he was giving Bush his son's shield and commendation bar "because we believe he and his administration will stand up for us."

Rich Bond, Bush's political director, contended that Dukakis' political base is cracking. Bond called New York "the jewel in his base, and it's shaky for him."

At his first stop of the day, Bush addressed 600 supporters in a Knights of Columbus hall in South River, N.J., and cautioned against relaxing the nation's military strength because of peace overtures from Moscow.

"As much as we welcome the change in the Soviet Union, now is not the time to abandon realism about what makes the Soviet Union move," Bush said. "Soviet military spending is up. The Soviets continue to modernize their forces" and "Soviet tank armies are still poised to take the offensive in Europe with great advantage on their side."

Bush criticized Dukakis for opposing the MX and Midgetman missiles while also saying he wants to modernize the land-based U.S. strate force.

"He just does not understand that's not how it works...that it takes up to 10 years to develop and deploy a system like this," Bush said. "He doesn't understand that we can't give away our best cards and then sit down and expect to negotiate a fair treaty with the Soviets.

"I don't think we should risk turning over the leadership and security of this free world of ours to a man...with literally no experience in foreign affairs," the vice president added.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis' runningmate, said he was giving himself the job ofanswering GOP charges. "Every time they issue afalsehood, I'm going to take them on andstraighten that one out," he told workers at thehuge General Electric appliance plant inLouisville, Ky.

Bentsen, a World War II veteran, said he tookit "as a personal insult to me" that theRepublicans were trying to paint Dukakis as weakon defense.

In neighboring Ohio, Sen. Dan Quayle, who isBush's running mate, said the economic recoverygenerated during the Reagan-Bush administrationmeans "a job for all who want to work. It meansfor the first time ever we can make and keep thepromise of a job for every American who wants ajob.