Bush asked to stop the negative campaigns

George W Bush, the embattled frontrunner in the contest for the Republican nomination for US President, has drawn blood in the run-up to the South Carolina primary.

George W Bush, the embattled frontrunner in the contest for the Republican nomination for US President, has drawn blood in the run-up to the South Carolina primary.

A combination of negative television advertisements and telephone calls which target his opponent, John McCain, have regained a slim lead in the opinion polls for Mr Bush, but at some risk. They have rattled the Arizona senator and put him on the defensive but they may also have made Mr Bush look vicious and ruthless.

Mr McCain was emotional and his wife tearful as they told a well-mannered crowd in Charleston of the latest negative tactics by the Bush campaign: "push polling". This involves telephoning voters with what appears to be an opinion poll, but in fact involves spreading a negative story about the candidate.

A woman in Spartanburg, South Carolina had told Mr McCain that her 14-year old son had taken a call from a push poller and was told the senator was a "cheat, liar and fraud". "I can't believe that someone from a good family such as George Bush wouldn't stop this," said Mr McCain, who admitted to being "rattled".

"We are not going to continue this negative campaigning," he told the Charleston meeting, receiving a round of applause and whoops of approval. "The job of the campaign is to uplift young Americans, not to destroy." He called on Mr Bush to "pull down the negative ads".

The Bush campaign denied it had been push polling. "I don't accept that kind of phone calling," said Mr Bush. "If anybody in my campaign has done that, they're going to be fired. I agree with the senator that this kind of politics shouldn't be a part of the political process."

The fact is that in the run-up to the vote next Saturday the race is very close and both sides have everything to lose. Mr Bush now leads in the state with 46 per cent to Mr McCain's 39 per cent and Alan Keyes's7 per cent, with 8 per cent undecided, according to a poll by the American Research Group. Mr McCain had been 20 points behind, then moved into a dead heat after his amazing victory in New Hampshire.

Mr Bush has picked up the support of the voters who had backed Steve Forbes, the billionaire publisher who dropped out of the race this week. The Texan governor is holding a core constituency on the right of the party, who make up about a third of the state's electorate and his attack strategy is yielding results: Mr McCain's support among Republicans has fallen, and his "unfavourable" rating has climbed from 4 to 15 per cent.

Mr McCain's strongest card is his character. "I really admire his life experience," said Robert Bowles of Charleston, waiting to see the candidate. "It's the issue of character. I think Senator McCain's got more ability to lead the country than Governor Bush." Undermining that view will weaken his support. But equally, negative ads could backfire very badly on Mr Bush if as a result he is simply seen as a less ethical candidate.

Mr McCain is benefiting from an influx of independent and Democrat voters who will use the Republican primary to back him. But tactics such as push polling are very effective at reducing turn-out, and that may be the principal aim of the Bush campaign: to turn off the air supply to Mr McCain. By making the contest look like any other political fight, the Bush campaign will keep its own conservative hardcore while dissuading Mr McCain's independents from turning up at all.

Mr Bush's campaign emerged chastened and somewhat divided from the New Hampshire primary. His campaign has shifted gear, making shorter trips and more of them - a response to criticism that he had been inactive and had assumed victory by right.