Republican candidates stick with Bush on Iraq

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) Republican presidential candidates are starting to put some distance between themselves and unpopular President George W. Bush but on the main issue confronting Americans, Iraq, they are hewing closely to him.

Bush looms as a large presence on the political landscape ahead of the November 2008 elections, and analysts see a difficult path to victory for a Republican candidate at a time of deep unease with the Iraq war.

But in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, candidates need the backing of the party's base of support, and these loyalists in large part make up the lion's share of Bush's die-hard supporters.

''I think Republican candidates are struggling with Bush,'' said Republican strategist Scott Reed. ''They are trying to appear loyal to their commander-in-chief but at the same time head in a new direction that is forward-looking, a post-Bush Republican Party.'' ''You don't want to put yourself in this box where you have to be against Bush or for Bush. You need to focus on beyond Bush,'' Reed said.

With Bush's approval rating hovering around 30 per cent, there was evidence of some distancing between the Republican field and the president in an ABC debate on Sunday.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani questioned the Bush administration's wisdom in pushing for Palestinian elections that brought the militant group Hamas to power.

''In some cases, maybe going to elections so quickly is a mistake,'' he said.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he would not be a ''carbon copy'' of Bush, and Arizona Sen. John McCain seemed critical of Bush's powerful vice president, Dick Cheney, when he said if elected he would make sure ''that there's only one president.'' But on the Iraq war the Republican field, save for long-shot Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the candidates are stressing the importance of continuing with Bush's strategy of using a U.S. troop buildup to try to bring stability to Baghdad, ahead of a critical Pentagon report in mid-September on whether the so-called troop surge is working.

''I think it's the best shot we have to see stability in Iraq and I certainly hope it's successful,'' Romney said, in a comment his campaign sent out by e-mail yesterday under the headline: ''Governor Mitt Romney on the need to support the surge.'' Republican pollster Whit Ayres said Republicans have yet to put a lot of distance between themselves and Bush but at some point they will ''because three-quarters of the country thinks we're going in the wrong direction and that suggests a chance in direction for the leader of the country.'' Democratic candidates are describing themselves as agents of change as a way to appeal to Americans weary of the Bush administration, particularly Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who stresses the need for ''fundamental change.'' ''Given the president's disastrously low approval ratings among a growing majority of Americans, its not surprising that the Republican candidates would want to try and be seen to distance themselves from President Bush,'' said Karen Finney, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee.

But for the most part, she said, they represent ''just more of the same.'' Merle Black, a political and government professor at Emory University in Atlanta, sees a tough atmosphere for a Republican nominee next year.

He points out that since World War Two the Republicans have only once been able to hold on to the White House for three terms in a row -- Ronald Reagan's two terms followed by his vice president, George H.W. Bush.

''The Democrats go in just on that basis alone as heavy favorites,'' Black said. ''Plus, the unpopularity of George W.

Bush right now is really an anchor around these Republican candidates.'' Reuters PDS VP0425