Dole in Uphill Struggle in Wisconsin Primary : Hoping for Victory That Will Propel Him Back Into GOP Race

As a tired cocktail band plowed through another refrain of “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” the hospitality room at Heileman’s Brewery here began filling with supporters of Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Don Harmon, a local attorney, shot a skeptical glance at the crowd and shook his head.

“This man’s presidential campaign is over, he’s all but lost,” said Harmon, who described himself as a lukewarm Dole supporter. “I don’t understand what this kind of event is supposed to prove . . . . It’s a mystery to me.”

But it is no mystery to Dole, who Monday began an uphill struggle to win Wisconsin’s April 5 primary and somehow climb back into the Republican presidential race with Vice President George Bush. Although conceding that he had been “blown out of the water” by Bush’s strong showing on Super Tuesday, Dole has been pleading with voters to give him a badly needed victory. And he has served notice that he has no intention of quitting the contest.

‘I’m Here to Stay’

“It’s the second day of spring, it’s much too early to quit,” said Dole, who campaigned here this week with a small group of aides. “Nobody is going to write me off. I’m here to stay.”

A recent newspaper poll showed Dole trailing Bush 68% to 25% here. However, a Dole campaign strategist said that Wisconsin was “tailor-made” for a political comeback because it has a huge bloc of independent voters who could make up their minds at the last minute and give the Kansas senator a crucial victory.

But in Dole’s address Tuesday to the Milwaukee Rotary Club, he received a polite but somewhat chilly reception from a largely pro-Bush audience. In random interviews, several members said they respected Dole but indicated they would not switch their votes. Given the inevitability of Bush’s nomination, they said, it was time for Dole to get out of the race.

‘Bad for the Party’

“Dole is finished and everybody knows it,” businessman Charlie Stenica said. “This is not politics anymore, it’s entertainment. It could be bad for the party if this continues.”

Dole apparently did not help his cause Tuesday with a series of confusing statements on where he stood on President Reagan’s recent veto of a civil rights bill.

On a radio call-in show, Dole said he would vote to override the veto if he were in Washington. But he added: “If it were the deciding vote, I would side with the President.”

He later said that the only reason he would vote to sustain Reagan’s veto would be to “give (the White House) a chance to rework the bill.” But, in his Rotary Club speech, Dole said: “That bill is not nearly as bad as advertised.”

In Washington, his spokeswoman said that Dole, the Republican leader in the Senate, “opposes the President on this issue” and would like to reverse the Supreme Court ruling that prompted the legislation. But she said: “If his vote were needed to sustain the veto, he would.”

Bush said on Monday for the first time that he approved of the veto. Congress voted to override the veto Tuesday.

The legislation was prompted by a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that said an organization receiving federal aid must follow anti-discrimination rules only in the programs that receive the aid and not in the entire organization or institution. The legislation would erase that distinction and require that an entire organization follow the rules.

The back-and-forth on the civil rights bill is not likely to help Dole with Wisconsin’s large number of independent voters, whom he frequently mentions in his appeals for support.

“If Dole has a chance at all, it’s going to take something we can’t see right now, some terrible thing happening to Bush’s campaign,” said Russ Hanson, who is chairman of the senator’s campaign in rural Vernon County, near La Crosse.

“A lot of Republicans think that they’re voting for Reagan when they vote for Bush. They just don’t see what’s coming up in the fall, when the Democrats will use the Iran-Contra issue against Bush. That is a millstone we don’t need,” he added.

As in other states, the main theme of Dole’s campaign here has been that he, not Bush, can win the election in November. In speaking to crowds of farmers and businessmen, Dole showed no signs of relaxing his attacks on the vice president, telling one group: “If you can show me one single thing he’s done in the last seven years, I’ll buy you lunch.”

Last week, Republican Party Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. hinted that Dole might consider withdrawing in the interest of party unity. But, if his two-day swing through Wisconsin is any indication, Dole has no intention of softening his criticism of the vice president.

Lashes Out at Bush

During an appearance at the annual Farm-City Day in rural Amery, for example, Dole lashed out at Bush, predicting that “the Democrats will beat him on the head with that (the Iran-Contra) issue day and night . . . . They can’t wait to begin.”

When asked about his statements, Dole insisted that he was not criticizing Bush personally. The charge that Bush has accomplished nothing in seven years “is not a criticism . . . . This is a fact,” he said.

Dole has persuaded some Wisconsin voters, who can cast ballots in the primary for any candidate, regardless of their party registration.

As she watched Dole deliver a stump speech in Amery, for example, Sue Bressler, 22, said she had no party affiliation but was leaning toward the senator because he had supported legislation that aided dairy farmers. More important, he seemed to be “very straightforward” compared to Bush.

“I don’t think people will vote for that guy (Bush) in November,” she said. “I don’t like the way he fought with Dan Rather on television, and I don’t think he answered the Iran-Contra questions.”

Roger Cadagan, an advertising salesman from La Crosse, said he was probably going to vote for Dole, even though he was a registered Democrat who had voted against Reagan.

“I like what Dole has to say,” he said. “I can’t really explain it, but none of the Democrats seem to offer much stability, and I get that from this guy. He would be a strong President.”

Denies Being Divisive

Dole maintains that he is not a divisive influence on the party. Over the weekend, his staff produced a lengthy report detailing the times Bush had criticized Reagan during the 1980 contest for the Republican nomination. And Dole has begun reminding Wisconsin audiences that Bush dropped out of that race on May 26, long after polls showed Reagan to be the likely winner.

“He (Bush) was right to hang in there, and speak out, and that’s what I’m going to do, too,” Dole said.