Republican nominee George Bush said he felt nervous as he voted today in his adopted home state of Texas, where he ended his presidential campaign telling voters the election is a referendum on a ``philosophy, a way of life.'' The vice president and his wife, Barbara, voted in a hotel conference room which had been set up as a polling place. The couple then visited a local Republican headquarters to talk to people working to get out the vote. Emerging from the voting booth, Bush was asked how he felt. ``Nervous ... everytime I vote here, I feel nervous,'' he said. Asked about the outcome, he replied, ``No predictions.'' At the GOP headquarters, Bush personally made a half-dozen telephone calls. ``No, I'm not kidding,'' he told one person who apparently expressed skepticism that Bush was on the line. ``Having done all the hard work, now the key is to get the vote out,'' he said. The vice president also showed off his French to a reporter from France. ``Je peux parler un peu de francais,'' he said, explaining he could speak the language a little. He added he felt ``tres heureux, aujourd'hui,'' or ``very happy, today.'' Bush told reporters he was ``very glad'' the campaign was over. He planned a ``relaxed family day'' with ``a lot of exercise.'' He planned to watch election returns on television with family members and friends at his home in a Houston condominium-hotel complex. Bush wrapped up his campaign Monday with a final swing through Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. He attended a raucus rally Monday evening at the Galleria shopping mall where country stars Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle and Mo Bandy entertained several thousand fans. Today's election is ``more than just a referendum on peace and prosperity,'' Bush told the crowd. ``It's a referendum on a philosophy, a way of life that's well and alive right here deep in the heart of Texas,'' he said. In a half-hour paid TV advertisment Monday night, the Republican presidential nominee summed up the themes of his campaign and said rival Michael Dukakis ``has no experience in national security affairs.'' ``I don't believe we can take a risk on an issue as important as our national security,'' he said on the ad broadcast on the three major networks right after Dukakis aired a half-hour spot of his own. Later, a soft-speaking Bush talked to viewers for a few minutes at the end of the half-hour commercial that featured biographical and campaign scenes set to music and narration, as well as an endorsement by President Reagan and various Bush family members. ``I respect my opponent, I admire his devotion to family, and I appreciate his decision to enter public service,'' Bush said. ``But I do believe we are guided by fundamentally different philosophies, a great divide, an honest difference of opinion on which approach will lead America in the '90s stronger and more secure than ever.'' Bush also echoed President Reagan's 1980 campaign line by saying, ``If you elect me president you will be better off four years from now than you are today.'' The ad made no mention of Bush's running mate, Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana, whose qualifications have been an issue in the campaign. Bush appeared in a jovial mood Monday as nationwide polls showed him holding his lead over Dukakis. Accompanied by his top campaign advisers, Bush spent the final campaign day addressing rallies in a suburb of Detroit, in rural Ashland, Ohio, and in St. Louis. While calling on voters to reject the ``failed liberal policies of the past,'' Bush also seemed in a reflective mood as he talked about what the campaign meant to him and what he sees ahead. ``Sometimes there's ups,'' he said. ``Sometimes there's downs. Sometimes you get written off by all the great experts and sometimes you bounce back. ``But I'll tell you where you get your strength, you get your strength from travelling around the United States of America and meeting and visiting with and listening to the heartbeat that comes from the American people themselves.'' Bush said he was confident that the negativism of the campaign would soon be behind him. ``What I will do is trust the good judgment of the American people who immediately shift gears and start looking to the future,'' he said in an interview with radio reporters.
