POLITICAL BRIEFING

STRATEGY SHIFT: The Bush high command also has given up on the idea of having him compete against Clinton for the role of agent-of-change, a part that does not suit the President’s natural inclination to defend the status quo. Instead, look for the President to continue to concentrate in his stump message on stirring fears about the sort of change Clinton and his Democrats would bring about in the White House. . . . Because of the sagging economy, “we’ll have a hard sell,” conceded Bush pollster Fred Steeper. “The voters’ natural instinct would be to make a change because they perceive things to be lousy. We have (until November) to make the case that Clinton will make things worse than they now perceive them to be.”