Says Rival Is ‘Groveling in the Mud’ : Dole Angrily Confronts Bush in Senate Chamber

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole twice confronted Vice President George Bush “man to man” in the Senate chamber Thursday, angrily demanding an apology to his wife and later accusing Bush of reducing the GOP presidential race to “groveling in the mud.”

In the first incident, Dole strode to the presiding officer’s table and shoved a press release issued by the Bush campaign in front of the vice president. The statement, issued Wednesday in Iowa by George Wittgraf, Bush’s state campaign chief, accused Dole of “cronyism and mean-spiritedness” and outlined federal investigations of a blind trust held until recently by Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the former secretary of transportation.

Dole told reporters later that the press release was “one of the nastiest things I’ve seen in politics.” He said that he had confronted Bush because “I wanted the vice president to tell me man to man” whether he had authorized it.

During the confrontation, which apparently was not overheard by others in the chamber, Bush spoke only a few words in response. As Dole appeared to be lecturing him, he repeatedly sipped from a water glass. After about five minutes, Dole walked away.

Still visibly angry in his subsequent meeting with reporters, Dole said that he had asked Bush, “ ‘Do you know what it says about me and Elizabeth?’ I couldn’t believe he had authorized it. I asked him if he had . . . and he said yes. I asked him if he had read the release, he said no.”

United Press International later quoted Dole as saying: “We don’t need that kind of person in the White House. What else is he going to authorize without reading it?”

Bush did not meet with reporters later, but his press secretary, Pete Teeley, said that “my understanding is Bush did not say he authorized the Wittgraf statement but that he stood behind it” after reading it after it had been released.

Bush “didn’t say much about it, really” when asked about the confrontation in the Senate, Teeley said.

Demands Apology

In recounting it later, Dole said, “I said to him I think you owe my wife an apology. He knew I was coming up there to see him. What kind of candidate would put out a statement attacking an opponent and his wife without reading it?

“This business doesn’t have to be so nasty, so mean, so vindictive. I want to be President, but I want to get there (by) discussing the issues, not groveling in the mud.”

Dole said Bush responded to him by mentioning attacks that had been made on him by the Dole camp, apparently referring to being called a “lap dog” by Dole senior adviser David Keene.

“I don’t go around saying personal things,” Dole said. “But neither do you impugn my integrity. And that’s what he’s done. He can’t say, ‘I’m taking the high road’ again.”

In the second incident, Dole approached the vice president Thursday night as the Senate was conducting a vote and dropped another Bush press release on the desk in front of him. The statement repeated allegations that Dole had improperly obtained a government contract for a former aide.

According to a Dole aide who witnessed the encounter, Dole said, “Here’s another one of these today. I would never issue anything on a Dole letterhead that’s a personal attack. This is getting out of hand.

“We’ve got to sit down together and talk.”

According to the source, Bush responded, “OK,” and Dole walked away.

The hard-fought battle between the two GOP front-runners turned bitter and personal Wednesday with the release of the Wittgraf statement, which also blamed Dole for “nearly single-handedly” bringing about the defeat of the Republican ticket in 1976, when Dole was President Gerald R. Ford’s running mate.

The statement’s “cronyism” charge referred to investigations of former Dole aides involved in obtaining a Small Business Administration contract to supply food to the Army. Dole has acknowledged trying to help one of the aides get the contract but was absolved of any wrongdoing by a House investigation.

Dole demanded that Bush issue an apology and fire Wittgraf. Teeley replied then that “we have no intention of firing George Wittgraf for pointing out the truth.”

On Thursday, while campaigning in Iowa before flying to Washington to preside when the Senate voted on aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, Bush tried to distance himself from the flap.

‘I Don’t Do That’

“That’s a staff matter and, if I responded to every staff attack from Bob Dole, it just wouldn’t be worth it,” Bush said at a campaign stop in Clinton. “I don’t do that. I’m not going to do that.

“I think my record of trying to . . . go the 11th commandment route is pretty good,” Bush said, referring to an informal party rule against attacking fellow Republicans. “ . . . I’ve just stood there and taken a pounding from other campaigns and I’m going to continue to do that.”

Staff writers Cathleen Decker and Bob Secter in Iowa contributed to this story.