Thurmond Breaks With GOP in S. Carolina, Endorses Dole

In a shock to Vice President George Bush’s campaign on the day of his opening visit to South Carolina, Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) today endorsed Sen. Bob Dole for President.

“Bob Dole is a common-sense conservative and is the most electable of all the candidates,” Thurmond, the most senior GOP senator, said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

In endorsing the Kansas Republican and Senate minority leader, Thurmond broke with other South Carolina Republicans, including Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr., who have endorsed Bush.

Lee Atwater, Bush’s campaign director, is from South Carolina and has helped him get support there.

It was on his flight to Myrtle Beach, S.C., after a quiet day off in Houston that Bush reportedly received a telephone call from Thurmond advising him of the Dole endorsement.

“That raises the stakes for South Carolina, raises them quite high,” Bush said of Thurmond’s decision. Atwater quickly tried to put the pressure on Dole, saying that if the Kansas Republican cannot win on March 5 in South Carolina--where he is not expected to win--”he’ll be like an iceberg hitting the tropics” when the rest of the South votes on “Super Tuesday” three days later.

Thurmond, who ran for President himself in 1948 on a states rights, anti-civil rights platform, declined to say why he considers Bush less electable than Dole. He would not criticize any of the candidates, he said.