In spite of a clear majority of American voters wanting change, Republican presidential candidates are trying to out do each other in adopting all of George Bush's failed policies. Maybe they know they'll win in spite of the wishes of the people. Perhaps with Diebold's help.

WASHINGTON — More than two-thirds of Americans say the country is "seriously off on the wrong track" under President Bush. Still, a remarkable thing is happening among Republican candidates for the White House: They are enthusiastically embracing Bush's major policies and principles -- even some of the most controversial and unsuccessful ones.

Mitt Romney wants to keep the Guantanamo Bay prison open -- even expand it -- and endorses Bush's failed plan to overhaul Social Security. Rudolph W. Giuliani, like Bush, sees tax breaks as the key to expanding health insurance coverage. Sen. John McCain of Arizona is a stalwart defender of a war that has left the nation unsettled.

All the leading GOP candidates want to continue Bush's tax cuts. And like Bush, they all oppose a bill to expand a health insurance program for children.

The durability of the Bush agenda -- with its commitment to tax cuts, the Iraq war, and free-market solutions to healthcare and retirement -- is in part a tribute to the president's continued popularity among the Republican voters who matter most now, as the candidates head into the post-Labor Day sprint to the first primaries.

But it is a politically risky agenda, especially in the general election, when the nominee must seek support from independent voters. The electorate is hungering for a change of course. Only 27% of Republicans surveyed in a June Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg News poll said they would want a nominee to campaign on continuing Bush's policies.