I didn't have enough room in my story today to include one other point of contention from yesterday's GOP debate at the PPH.

During the sometimes heated discussion, Dean Scontras raised the question of whether his opponent, Charlie Summers, has inaccurately claimed the endorsement of former President George H.W. Bush.

According to campaign-finance records, Bush and his wife, Barbara, each gave $1,000 to the Summers campaign on July 6, 2007. Scontras said that people working on the Summers campaign were suggesting that Summers had also gotten Bush's endorsement.

But according to Scontras, he sat down with Bush in September 2007, and the former president told him that he was not endorsing Summers – just giving him a campaign contribution.

"I still don't know quite frankly if there's an endorsement from President Bush," Scontras said during yesterday's debate. "I'd have to ask you now, Did he endorse you, or did he just ..."

"Absolutely," Summers interjected.

Later in the discussion, Summers elaborated, "When I sat with President Bush and Mrs. Bush at Walker's Point and asked for their support, they said that they support me, and that I could release a press release saying that they supported me, which is exactly what my press release said."

Following yesterday's debate, the Scontras campaign supplied me with a copy of a piece of Summers campaign literature that lists "Honorable & Mrs. George H. W. Bush" under a heading that reads, "Legislators, Former Legislators & Party Leaders endorse Summers."

Late yesterday afternoon, I spoke with Jean Becker, former President Bush's chief of staff. She said that at the time the ex-president talked with Summers, Scontras had not yet entered the congressional race. Scontras officially announced his candidacy six days after the Bushes made their contributions to Summers' campaign.

Becker emphasized that the former president has a longstanding policy of not endorsing candidates in contested Republican primaries, and said that he's not endorsing either candidate in this race.

"He never did publicly endorse Summers," Becker said. "Again, he had great meetings with both candidates, and he's just totally neutral in the race."

– Kevin Wack

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