The actual story, not as alarming as I thought, but still indiscreet. His remark about McCain seems to be premised on his misgivings about Elizabeth's ability to stay in the race, and a covert concession that she is aiming for the number two spot for the time being:
nytimes.com
May 17, 1999
As Political Spouse, Bob Dole Is Admirer, Coach and
Critic
By RICHARD L. BERKE
WASHINGTON -- For all his devotion to Elizabeth Dole, and for all the blessings he offers her campaign for president, Bob Dole is nobody's compliant, stick-with-the-script,
gaze-lovingly-at-your-mate political spouse. Three times she stood by his side as he ran for the presidency and lost, and recalling her tireless campaigning, he says, "I'm her biggest fan and supporter, and should do for her what she did for me."
But in his first extensive interview about the progress of his wife's campaign, Dole said he wanted to give money to a rival candidate who was fighting for much of her support. He
conceded that Mrs. Dole's operation has had growing pains, was slow to raise money early and was only beginning to hit its stride. And while Dole was hopeful, he allowed that he was by no means certain she would even stay in the race.
"She's getting there," he said of her progress so far.
Hedging his bets, perhaps, Dole acknowledged that he wanted to contribute to the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a close friend who stuck by Dole's side in the
final, depressing weeks of his run against President Clinton in 1996.
"I've thought about it," Dole said in the interview on Friday. "McCain's my friend. And he's not raising the money that George Bush is. I think we need to keep good people in the
race. So I've thought about ways to help McCain in particular." Asked why he had not yet written the check, he said, "I think I'd check with Elizabeth first."
Never one to hew to talking points, Dole had no interest in espousing the confident spin of the Dole campaign that Mrs. Dole will be the next president. Although she has formed an
exploratory committee, and has been aggressively competing for the nomination, Dole did not sound convinced that Mrs. Dole would take the final step and formally declare her candidacy.
"I'm sort of leaning that she'll do it," said Dole, who works at the law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand here and has stayed in the public eye mostly because of his television commercial about erectile dysfunction. "But she hasn't told me point-blank. If there's no response out there, or if it looks impossible, this is not her whole
life. If she can't raise the money, obviously it's pretty hard to be a candidate."
While his wife is running second to Gov. George W. Bush of Texas in most polls out of a field of nearly a dozen, Dole said that Bush -- whom he called "the absentee candidate"
because he has been holed up in Austin -- would probably be "very impressive" on the stump.
"He's in a strong position, no question about it," Dole said. Reeling off Bush's roster of
endorsements, he recalled the 1988 campaign, when he could not compete with Vice President George Bush in capturing endorsements and lost the nomination. "He's got good
people," Dole said of Gov. Bush.
And Dole passed up the opportunity to say that his wife would be formidable against Vice President Al Gore in a general election. "It's too early to tell," he said. Dole is breaking new political ground: Never before has a politician won the Republican
nomination only to see his spouse seek the same office the next time around. The Dole-Dole dynamic is fraught with personal and political land mines, a sense of missed
opportunities -- and perhaps even competition. On the one hand, Dole wants Mrs. Dole to be president. On the other hand, Dole spent much of his career trying to be president
himself. On the one hand, Dole said he did not want to interfere with his wife's campaign. On the other hand, he loves campaigning and wants to be involved. That has left Dole, who is 75, playing a blend of roles, part admiring spouse, part coach,
part critic. Dole sounded a bit like Clinton did in an interview last week about Gore's campaign: He conceded that there had been growing pains and that his protege had to relax on the trail.
"I'm not going to coach like Clinton," Dole said. "It's a full-time job with Gore. But I'm available for part-time work." Jokes aside, Dole said he had been "a little bit concerned" that Mrs. Dole's campaign had a slow start, but that people should be patient given that Mrs. Dole, a two-time Cabinet secretary who is 62, had been until recently the president of the American Red Cross.
"You're going to get more answers than you ever thought from Elizabeth once she hits her stride," he said. "And she's getting there. She's got to catch up after eight years in the Red Cross. She needs a little breathing time. You can't expect her to walk out the door and say, 'Now, I'm going to answer every question in the world about whatever.'
"She's feeling better about what's happening," he continued. "Anybody's under a little pressure at the beginning. When you leave the Red Cross you get all the nice comments
and the expectations go up. My view is, it's getting better, it's looking better. The money's
looking better."
Asked why when he was a candidate he never memorized his speeches as Mrs. Dole does, Dole said that given his decades in the Senate and service as majority leader, he had
always felt comfortable discussing issues.
"I knew a lot about issues," Dole said. Mrs. Dole, he said, seemed to be growing more comfortable bantering with reporters about policy. "She's more and more relaxed almost
every day. You can almost sense it."
Dole said his wife could become the most compelling candidate. "It could be exciting to
have a qualified woman running for president of the United States," he said. "That has a
lot of attraction in itself."
He praised her tenacity, saying, "She's flying around all by herself, like yesterday, New
York to Chicago, coach on American Airlines to save money."
Dole said that he was trying to keep a low public profile and had attended only two of
Mrs. Dole's events. "I haven't even been in the headquarters," he said. "So they can't say,
'Bob Dole, who couldn't get in the front door, is trying to get in the back door.' "
Mrs. Dole, in a separate recent interview, agreed that it was important that she strike out
on her own. "It's important for me to establish that this is my campaign," she said. "It's
important that I go solo here for a while. Bob will certainly be willing to do his share of
campaigning, but I'll be making the decisions."
Asked how much pillow talk there was between her and Dole on issues, she said, "With a
strong marriage, you're going to talk things over. Obviously, he's got a lot of political
wisdom having been in politics so long."
Dole agreed that his wife needed to be front and center, but he said he would counsel her.
"I can direct her on some issues," he said. "Wherever I can help: agriculture, Social
Security, Medicare, foreign policy. But only what I'm asked to do. I feel like I've got to
watch it a little. I don't want her to have to defend what I say."
Both Doles were hard-pressed to give an example of how they differed on issues. "I'd have
to think for a moment," Mrs. Dole said. But days after the interview with her, Mrs. Dole
called for a ban on assault weapons -- something her husband had opposed in the Senate.
In his interview, Dole endorsed his wife's position. "It's always a vote that I questioned,"
he said. "She did the right thing."
Dole said that he tried to talk to his wife every day but scoffed at the idea that he was
deeply involved in the campaign operation. He said he missed most of her recent speech in
New Hampshire when she outlined her position on guns. "They didn't have it on C-Span,"
Dole said. "I tried C-Span at 7 o'clock, at 8 o'clock, at 9 o'clock, at 10 o'clock."
Dole applauds his wife's trademark strolling into audiences to deliver speeches. But he
said she should not get carried away with it. "Obviously, she's not going to do the Notre
Dame commencement in the middle of the sophomore class," he said.
Asked if he was sorry he did not try the technique in 1996, he recalled his embarrassing
mishap at an event in California. "I did fall off the stage in Chico," he said.
Dole questioned whether Mrs. Dole should heed his suggestions anyway. "I lost," he said.
"Remember?"
At the close of the interview, Dole said he hoped he had not said anything that could get
him in hot water with the candidate. "Write a good story or I'll be dead," he pleaded with a
laugh. "I'll be under house arrest!" |
