Quayle Flap Will Linger, Dole Says : Kansan Predicts Skepticism Among Reagan Democrats

Embattled GOP vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle took a break from campaigning Sunday but found himself skewered for breakfast on morning news shows as prominent leaders of both parties assessed the fallout from the flap over the Indiana senator’s military record.

Democrats, including Rep. Tony Coelho (D-Merced), the House majority whip, said the problem reflects poorly on the ability of Vice President George Bush to make sound decisions. But, surprisingly, the most damaging comments about Quayle came from the man who nominated him at the Republican convention in New Orleans last week, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

Interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Dole said controversy is likely to linger for awhile over whether the 41-year-old Quayle used the clout of his influential publishing family in 1969 to get a safe, stateside slot in the Indiana National Guard and avoid the Vietnam War era draft.

Dismisses Issue

Bush has dismissed the issue as a “tempest in a teapot” and his campaign chairman, former Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III, has said the furor over Quayle is on the wane.

Although saying that Bush could have chosen his running mate from a pool of “better qualified” candidates, Dole said Quayle is a “quick study” who will “prove to be a good choice” in the long run.

But Dole--who challenged Bush for the GOP presidential nomination and then was considered but passed over as a possible Bush running mate--also acknowledged that the National Guard issue could cost the Bush-Quayle ticket support among a key constituency: middle-of-the-road Democrats who abandoned their party in 1980 and 1984 to vote for President Reagan.

‘My Little Hometown’

“They’re from my part of the country, they’re in my little hometown, and I must tell you, in my generation, you knew who was in the Guard and who was in uniform fighting for their country,” said Dole, who remains crippled from serious wounds he suffered while fighting in Italy during World War II. “They’re very sensitive about it. They didn’t have anybody they could call. They couldn’t influence anyone.”

Dole predicted that the so-called Reagan Democrats eventually will get over any skepticism they may have about Quayle because of doubts about whether the candidate--now a leading advocate in the Senate of a military buildup--pulled strings to avoid combat.

“But right now,” he declared, “I would guess there are a number of Reagan Democrats who are going to remain undecided or maybe go the other way.”

In a sharp contrast to Dole’s remarks, Republican Gov. John H. Sununu of New Hampshire defended the Quayle choice in an interview on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” Sununu, who helped engineer Bush’s pivotal victory over Dole in the New Hampshire primary last February, said he thinks that “Dan Quayle is going to help mobilize the Reagan Democrats across the country.”

Sununu predicted that criticism of Quayle could create a backlash in favor of the Republican ticket and said the few calls made on Quayle’s behalf that may have helped him gain a coveted spot in the Indiana Guard unit were innocent compared to the manner in which Lloyd M. Bentsen III, son of the Democratic nominee for vice president, pulled strings to get into the Texas National Guard in 1968. Published reports have indicated that the younger Bentsen enlisted after his father was told of a rare opening by an senior officer in the unit.

Sees a Difference

“I think there’s a difference between having someone speak for you and having someone move you up on a list or into a special slot as was done in the Bentsen case,” Sununu said.

During the Vietnam War, most Guard units around the country had long waiting lists of applicants. Service in the state militias was widely seen as a way to fulfill military service requirements with little chance that an enlistee would see combat.

The acerbic tone of Dole’s remarks in his television interview suggests one reason why Bush may have been reluctant to have him as a running mate. Besides having a reputation for owning one of the sharpest tongues and fastest wits in Washington politics, Dole--who grew up poor in Dust Bowl Kansas--harbors a deep resentment toward those he sees as the pampered rich, a profile that could fit Bush and Quayle.

Such resentment flared bitterly during his unsuccessful primary fight with Bush. For example, when Dole was informed last winter that Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.), an heir to a ketchup company fortune, had endorsed Bush, the Kansas lawmaker snapped about Heinz: “I’ll bet he was chauffeured to kindergarten too.”

Speaking on the same television program as Dole, Coelho said he was relieved to learn that Bush had not chosen Dole as his vice presidential nominee or any one of several other “extremely well-qualified” contenders.

Question of Judgment

“I don’t think the question is Dan Quayle’s National Guard service . . . it’s an honorable duty,” said Coelho. “The question really is George Bush’s judgment.” Coelho said the controversy gives Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis and Bentsen the opportunity not only to attack the maturity, experience and leadership of Quayle, but also the ability of Bush to make sound choices.

Meanwhile, former President Richard M. Nixon endorsed Bush and dismissed the controversy over his running mate’s military record as media hype, Reuters reported. “Quayle has nothing to be ashamed of in using a family connection to join the National Guard instead of going to Vietnam,” Nixon said in an article written for the Sunday Times of London.

“But once the issue was raised, his failure to step up to it quickly and confidently gave the media an excuse to keep it alive,” Nixon said, adding that the reporters responsible were once champions of draft-dodgers during the Vietnam War.