WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush is discovering,
as Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, that ``When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions.''

The latest flap, over allegations that Republican operatives flashed the word ``RATS'' as a subliminal message
in a Bush campaign advertisement, was just the latest to knock the Texas governor and his running mate
Dick Cheney off their campaign message in recent weeks.

There was Bush's comment picked up by a live microphone that a New York Times reporter was a
``major league asshole''. Reporters have recently also begun zeroing in on his occasional verbal bloopers,
such as confusing the word ``hostile'' for ''hostage''. The Bush campaign Monday had to deny a magazine
report that he suffered from dyslexia.

Bush also had to retreat in a tug-of-war with Gore over presidential debates when it became clear that
voters did not support his position.

Cheney has provided his own unwelcome coverage, focusing on his multimillion dollar retirement package
from petroleum services company Halliburton, his charitable donations and his failure to vote in 14 out of 16
elections since 1995. On Tuesday came information that Cheney had cashed in $35 million in stock options last month.

Not Articulating

``This is Bush's most dangerous moment. He has not been able to articulate his message effectively and now he
somehow has to get back on track and grab the agenda back,'' said Republican strategist Joel Rosenberg,
who worked against Bush on the unsuccessful campaign of Republican Steve Forbes.

``He is in serious trouble. The Republican base feels it and that nervousness is coming to the surface again,'' he said.

With eight weeks to go until Election Day on Nov. 7, the race remains close but some recent polls have appeared
to pick up a trend toward Democrat Al Gore, who now leads by seven percentage points in a daily Gallup tracking poll.

One Republican political consultant, who asked not to be named, said Bush appeared to be "terminally gaffe-prone now''
and noted there was no longer a forgiving atmosphere surrounding his campaign on the part either of the media
or the Republican Party establishment.

 ha ha

``Every little gaffe becomes another count in the indictment instead of a humorous moment. Republicans are just shaking
their heads and asking, 'How could this possibly be happening? How on earth could Al Gore be winning?''' he said.

 ha ha

James Pinkerton, a former Republican White House official, said in a Los Angeles Times opinion column that Bush's
errors went beyond bloopers. He said Bush was slow to come up with a prescription drugs plan and allowed
Gore to dominate that issue.

Denies Accusations

Bush quickly denied the accusation that his campaign put out a subliminal message. ``Campaigns take bizarre twists
and this has to be one of the more bizarre accusations,'' the Texas governor said. ``We don't need to be manufacturing subliminal messages to get my message across.''

But the incident seemed certain to provide fodder for gleeful late night television comics and experts were far from
believing the ad was accidental.

Dartmouth College political scientist Lynn Vavreck, who has studied campaign advertising, said there was no way
the word was inserted into the spot accidentally.

``The word 'Rats' was clearly put there intentionally. Somebody made this frame specifically. You can see the word
is in a larger font and comes on top of the previous text,'' she said.

Other Republican political insiders doubted that any senior Bush campaign official could have had anything to do
with it but said it was possible that one or more ``rogue consultants'' could have been behind it.

Bush's problems come after several months of trouble-free campaigning between March and August, during which
Gore was the candidate struggling against a series of distractions.

Now, the Gore campaign is like a yacht sailing through calm waters with the wind in its sails, while
the Bush vessel tacks back and forth in choppy seas, shipping water and trying to find a more favorable breeze.