Dole Campaign Sailing Into Doldrums?

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 3, 1999 | by Jamie Dettmer, | Eli Lehrer

Is Elizabeth Dole's bid for the Republican presidential nomination faltering? That's a question some of Dole's own advisers are pondering. Sources close to the fledgling campaign have told news alert! that there have been active discussions between the would-be first couple and their advisers about whether she should "go dormant" for a couple of months and, while keeping a low-profile, try to regroup and relaunch her less than thrilling bid later in the summer or fall.

One or two pessimistic backers even wonder whether Dole should shelve her campaign altogether if she can't get lift-off in the next few weeks. The argument? If she flops badly in the run-up to campaign season or early on during the primaries, she could well lose the chance of being picked as a running mate on the eventual GOP presidential ticket.

Is this all just early campaign jitters -- after all, Dole is running consistently second to Texas Gov. George W. Bush in opinion polls? Not according to campaign sources. They say the Doles have been surprised by the difficulty they are having in securing more than just promises of financial backing for the first-ever serious female presidential candidacy.

"The money is just not coming -- it is like drawing water from a stone," says one source. Some potential supporters complain Dole doesn't know what she stands for and has failed to define any clear policy positions. "It is no good saying all that can be sorted out later," says a GOP political consultant. When Dole announced she was establishing an exploratory committee last month, she was short on the specifics of her campaign and said she would be listening to the voters to find out what they wanted before staking out her positions. Her remarks eerily echoed her husband's much mocked 1996 campaign aside, "I'll be anything you want me to be." But Bob Dole was joking!

"There's a lot of disarray," admits another source. "We're not even attracting advisers who were close to Bob -- they just won't sign on." The Dole campaign was dismayed earlier this month when the former second-ranking GOP official in the first primary state of New Hampshire, Barbara Russell, a close friend of Bob Dole, opted to sign on with Bush's team, despite repeated telephone calls from the former Senate majority leader to secure her services for his wife. Dole's campaign isn't helped by regular clashes between her husband's advisers and former Red Cross employees that Dole brought in to help her bid.

No sources close to the Doles blame the Kosovo crisis for her problems. While some commentators have argued that the conflict is highlighting the possible drawbacks of a female presidential candidacy, those backing Dole say that's unfair, arguing that recent history abounds with fine female war leaders, including Britain's Maggie Thatcher. They maintain she suffers the same drawback as, say, rival Steve Forbes when it comes to war. Neither have a history of elective political office or combat experience and therefore have to do more to persuade voters that they could handle such a crisis as Kosovo.

That isn't a problem for GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whose White House bid has been lifted as a result of his consistently calling for a gloves-off war in the Balkans. Vietnam war hero McCain has the virtue of credibility and doesn't come off sounding like an armchair general, though his gung-ho approach may not please conservative GOP primary voters, who tend to be opposed to the Balkans intervention.

For now Dole has decided to soldier on and to put the doubts aside. On April 27 she starts a 10-city tour of the nation to see if she can generate more interest in her bid. If that goes off without giving her any lift, she may head for the exit.