(Des Moines, IA) Republican presidential candidate Orrin Hatch on Monday said his 23 years as a United States Senator better prepares him for the unavoidable campaign gaffes which Hatch predicted will cripple frontrunner George W. Bush.
“Anybody’s going to make mistakes….but I have a feeling that if Bush makes mistakes, he’ll be Quayle-ized,” Hatch said, referring to the former Vice President. “You know, what they did to Dan Quayle is not fair. Look, Dan Quayle never said he fathered the Internet. Al Gore has been criticized for that, but nothing like Dan Quayle and I believe that George W. Bush will suffer the same fate in the end.”
Hatch, a republican from Utah, made his comments to reporters after a tour of a Des Moines-based dairy. Hatch donned a hairnet and a baseball cap to walk through the highly-mechanized production area, where he shook a few workers’ hands. Hatch then handed his hairnet and cap to an aide and walked across a parking lot to the Anderson-Ericksen Dairy executive offices to meet with about 50 employees.
Standing in front of a glass display of milk and ice cream cartons, Hatch answered questions about a nationwide dairy compact, defense spending and tax policy. At one side of the conference room, which was decorated with “Diamond Udder” and “Golden Udder” awards for the dairy, ice cream samples were handed out to a few willing workers and to Hatch, who asked for vanilla.
Hatch handed his half-eaten bowl of ice cream to an aide, then turned to the group of reporters who trailed him. The interview ended with a question about today’s Salt Lake City Tribune poll which shows Hatch trailing Bush even in Utah by a significant margin.
Hatch discounted the poll and cited another Utah paper’s poll which showed him leading Bush in Utah.
“I think you’ll find that if Bush and I went head to head in Utah, I’d kick his tail,” Hatch told the reporters.