Reagan Touts Bush at L.A. Rally as ‘a Man of Action’ : First Joint Appearance of Campaign

President Reagan touted Republican presidential nominee George Bush today as a man of action for whom the backup role of vice president “didn’t come easily.”

“George Bush is a man of action--a man accustomed to command,” Reagan said in remarks during a Reagan-Bush rally at the Century Plaza Hotel where the President is staying during a break from his California ranch vacation.

“The vice presidency doesn’t fit easily on such a man,” he said. “But George Bush is also a patriot. And so he made it fit, and he served with a distinction no one has ever matched.”

‘It Didn’t Come Easily’

“I once said that he is a great vice president, but I know and I’ve seen that it didn’t come easily,” the President said.

“No one is better prepared to lead America into the next decade and to the threshold of the next century,” Reagan said.

The President also said that Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana, whose Vietnam-era military service in the Indiana National Guard has drawn controversy, deserves his spot on the GOP ticket because he strongly supports the principles advocated by Reagan and Bush.

Emerging From Shadow

Today’s rally was the first Reagan-Bush campaign appearance since the vice president won the presidential nomination last week in New Orleans. Bush has managed since the Republican National Convention to emerge from Reagan’s shadow as he seeks the White House, but with the Quayle shadow trailing the campaign, Bush met with his boss today for a political pick-me-up.

Reagan heaped scorn on the Democrats in his speech, saying they had fielded “a three-headed ticket that doesn’t know left from center”--a reference to presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis, running mate Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and runner-up Jesse Jackson.

“They talk about reaching for the center, but on issues like national defense, they’ve taken positions that only a McGovern could love,” he said, reaching back to 1972 when liberal Sen. George S. McGovern of South Dakota was the Democratic presidential nominee.

‘Never Let Me Down’

Earlier, the President and Bush met with state party leaders, and Reagan heaped lavish praise on Bush, saying he had seen him “keep a cool head in hot crises.”

“I have seen his leadership and vision,” he added. “I have given him some of the most sensitive and difficult tasks we’ve had, and he has never let me or the country down.”

Bush, stumping in a crucial electoral state where Reagan remains popular as a former governor, said Tuesday in Sacramento, “You’ll see plenty of me in the next 78 days.” Recognizing the weight of California’s 47 electoral votes, he called the Golden State “a first priority for me.”

Debate Timing in Doubt

Meanwhile, the Bush campaign announced today that the vice president will debate Dukakis during the presidential campaign this fall, but probably not before Sept. 20.

Bush’s campaign chairman, James A. Baker III, will meet “in the near future” with Paul Brountas, chairman of the Dukakis campaign, to discuss sponsorship, timing, ground rules and other related matters, a statement released in Washington said.

The statement said, “Mr. Baker pointed out . . . that because the Republican National Convention just recently concluded, it is unlikely that a debate can occur prior to Sept. 20.”

This appeared to rule out the debate timetable earlier agreed upon by the chairmen of the national Republican and Democratic parties and another one proposed independently by the League of Women Voters.