Dole Cuts Staff, Ads but Denies He’ll Quit Race

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole’s struggling presidential campaign Thursday laid off more than half of its staff and pulled all of its advertising from Illinois television stations, and a top campaign consultant said some advisers were recommending that Dole withdraw from the Republican presidential race.

“More than half” of the campaign staff of 300 has been laid off, Dole spokeswoman Dale Tate confirmed, but she insisted that Dole has no plans to abandon his campaign before the showdown against Bush in the Illinois primary next Tuesday.

However, the layoffs immediately sparked speculation that Dole was planning to give up the race after his disastrous showing in the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses in 17 states this week. Dole failed to win any of the states, finishing second to Bush in 14.

Taking ‘Another Look’

Dole advisers insisted that rumors of the campaign’s imminent demise were premature. Dole’s “desire is to go forward,” then “take another look at things after Tuesday,” said Thomas Rath, who managed Dole’s New Hampshire campaign and remains a key Dole strategist. But Rath said some members of Dole’s often-divided team of senior advisers have been arguing in favor of dropping out now.

Dole himself, in a campaign appearance late Thursday at an American Legion hall in Chicago, declared: “I’m not going to drop out.

“That all started in the media,” he said of the speculation that he might withdraw. “I’m a candidate, not a dropout.”

Earlier, speaking at a rehabilitation hospital here, Dole repeated his assertion that Illinois was “very critical” to his presidential hopes, but he sounded downbeat about his chances.

He said he hoped that delegates pledged to Jack Kemp, who pulled out of the race Thursday, as well as those pledged to Pat Robertson would eventually come over to his camp, but he added: “It’s still a steep hill to climb. We’ve taken a hard look at the numbers. I’ve been in this business long enough to know there comes a time . . . .” Then, his voice trailed off.

After declaring that he is still “a fighter,” Dole said that he was also “realistic.”

“I’m not in this race just to see how long we can extend it,” he said. “I’m in this race to win.”

Candidate Frustrated

Dole was clearly frustrated by Bush’s success in capitalizing on his symbolic role in the Reagan Administration without, in Dole’s opinion, contributing much to its substantive achievements. Exit polls in the Super Tuesday states indicated that Bush benefited greatly from his association with the President.

“I can beat Bush, but I can’t beat Reagan,” Dole said Thursday. “It’s almost impossible to separate Bush from Reagan, because he’s been standing next to him for seven years. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to stand there. I had to get Reagan’s program passed. So, while I was doing work, somehow he was piling up credit.”

Dole decided to pull the advertisements, according to Rath, because “we’ve been running 30-second spots into perdition” to no effect. Dole and his advisers, he said, were considering “a lot of options” to “reshape” the television campaign, including the possibility of buying an extended block of time that Dole could use for a long speech to voters.

Withdrawal Denied

“I want to make . . . very clear (that) this does not foreshadow Sen. Dole’s withdrawal,” campaign spokeswoman Katie Boyle said of the cancellation of the television ads. “It is just meant to reassess our advertising strategy.”

“There’s no doubt in Sen. Dole’s mind as to what he’s going to do,” campaign Press Secretary Mari Maseng added. “The only thought in his mind is how he’s going to win.”

Maseng said that “the direction has been changed” on Dole’s media strategy and that he and his staff were still working on the details of what would be substituted for the canceled ads.

“What he’s been talking about all day long is various options to hone our strategy to win on Tuesday,” Maseng said.

As for the staff cuts, Tate said that some had long been planned, reflecting the change from a broad Super Tuesday organization to the campaign’s current state-by-state approach. “We just don’t need this number of people,” she said.

But “money is part of it,” she acknowledged.

Denies Borrowing

Tate insisted that the campaign had not been forced to borrow money to meet its Illinois budget. With a large federal matching fund payment due today, the campaign has “enough” to pay for the entire Illinois race without taking any loans, she said.

Boyle said the ads, which had been running on stations in six Illinois markets, were paid for in advance when they were placed last week.

The Dole campaign had been running just one ad, a short biography, which Dole had used in Super Tuesday states, and it refused to say what other, if any ads, it would run.

Boyle refused to disclose the size of Dole’s media purchases in Illinois. Estimates from campaign sources and local TV stations of Dole’s advertising-time purchases ranged as high as $500,000.

Dole earlier in the week had challenged Bush to a debate patterned after those of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in their 1858 Illinois Senate campaign. He said Thursday that he doubted Bush would reconsider his refusal to take part.

“I think he’s going to play it very safe,” Dole said of Bush.

Bob Secter reported from Chicago and David Lauter from Washington. Staff writers John Balzar and Thomas B. Rosenstiel also contributed to this story.