Bush Joins 1980 Race, Stops to Talk in Boston

George Bush joined the Republican scorecard in the race for the Presidency yesterday, as more than 300 supporters jammed the Sheraton-Boston Hotel to cheer on the sixth GOP candidate on the campaign trail.

After making his formal announcement yesterday morning in Washington D.C., Bush moved on to his home state of Connecticut and then into Boston as part of his opening day effort.

The former director of the Central Intelligence Agency told his Boston followers he would be "a national candidate, not a factional one and not a regional one."

"I feel very idealistic and optimistic about our country," the former two-term congressman and head of the first U.S. liaison office in China said. "We are the only credible defense to the Soviet Union. We should act like the United States of America," he added during a brief speech in which he stressed U.S. responsibility to defend international freedom.

Bush said he planned to head for New Hampshire last night to conclude the first day of his campaign effort. Claiming he would bring "a new candor" to government, the former United Nations ambassador said, "If I don't know the answer to a question I'll tell them I don't know."

At an airport news conference, Bush entered the current energy policy debate between Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and President Carter. He said, "Senator Kennedy is most wrong. President Carter is next most wrong.

"I would say decontrol should be accompanied by this 'plowback' provision which compels money to go into the ground to increase supplies or increase research and development," the co-founder of a Texas-based oil firm said.