SHOWDOWN ON REGIS

Decked out in full Regis attire, Texas governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush made an appearance on Live with Regis this morning and went toe-to-toe with Philbin and guest co-host Susan Hawk of Survivor. Asked whether he tuned in to the CBS reality smash, Bush replied: "I did, coming down the stretch in particular. I was anxious to see who was going to survive, like me." Hawk then quipped: "Just watch your last speech," referring to her legendary snake/rat tongue-lashing. What does Bush think of the tapioca-lovin' loudmouth truck driver? "I like her spirit," he said. Indeed he did. At one point, Bush appeared to be flirting with the former castaway, trading pony stories while Philbin attempted to get his attention. Other tidbits: The last movie Dubya saw was Saving Private Ryan, but "it was a rental. I haven't been to a movie house in a long time." Not since, well, they were called movie houses. In other Live news, ratings for the show's Sept. 4 premiere week were up 22 percent from the previous week and 30 percent from the same week last year. Live ranked second only to Oprah among talk shows.