President Bush might be down in the polls, but when the Republican presidential candidates were asked about his record on foreign policy in a recent debate in New Hampshire, no one except Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was running away from it.

"I agree with the (Bush) doctrine," Arizona Sen. John McCain responded.

"The president got the big decision of his presidency right," said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, praising Bush's offensive against terrorism.

As the GOP candidates scramble for support in a free-for-all election, they have come to a shared view that criticizing Bush's record too sharply would alienate the voters they need to win the nomination. But sticking too closely to Bush also carries risks for the eventual GOP nominee as Democrats seek to tie Republicans to the president's missteps, especially in Iraq.

Even former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who wrote a piece in Foreign Affairs magazine last month blasting the administration's "arrogant bunker mentality," is scaling back his critique after he was savaged by his rivals for rebuking the president. Huckabee, at the debate Saturday, said his line about arrogance was aimed at former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for failing to heed calls by his generals for more troops in Iraq.

Paul, who has urged an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, is the only candidate who is directly challenging Bush's policies.

"I certainly agreed with (Bush's) foreign policy that he ran on and that we as Republicans won in the year 2000 - you know, the humble foreign policy, no nation-building, don't be the policeman of the world," Paul said.

"Of course, the excuse is that 9/11 changed everything, but the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war is not a minor change. This is huge. This is the first time we as a nation accept as our policy that we start the wars."

Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, said, "Even though Bush is unpopular among the general electorate, a lot of Republicans remain loyal to him, which is why Republicans generally avoid direct criticism." Pitney said that of all the GOP candidates, McCain seems to be doing the best at maneuvering around the pitfalls of Bush's foreign policy record.

"McCain seems to have found an effective formula by endorsing the administration's goals while faulting its execution - saying they tried to do the right thing the wrong way," Pitney said. "McCain has the credibility to make the argument because of his expertise in military matters."

More than any other candidate, McCain's success in the race has been tied to the trajectory of the war.

His fortunes fell when violence in Iraq flared last year and polls showed rising discontent among U.S. voters. But, in a move some analysts saw as political suicide, McCain embarked on a "No Surrender" tour this fall, opposing calls for withdrawing troops and backing Bush's "surge" of 30,000 soldiers into Iraq. He told voters, "I'd rather lose an election than lose a war."

"John McCain bet his entire candidacy on the success of the surge ... and it paid off," said Dan Schnur, a Republican strategist who was McCain's communications director during his 2000 presidential bid.

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