Presidential Lure Reels In GOP Stalwart

Speculation about the political future of this California Republican has been mounting for weeks. Will he or won’t he run for President?

Having come off a big Nov. 8 election victory, he’s feeling strong and ready for another fight. Yes, he promised voters to stay focused on his current job through this term. But the temptation, it seems, is too great to resist.

So, the campaign posters are printed, multicolored baseball caps with the campaign slogan “Faith, Family, Freedom” are ready, national headquarters office space has been rented in Virginia, and the plane is being chartered for the first coast-to-coast campaign swing in mid-April to officially announce his candidacy.

Robert K. (B-1 Bob) Dornan, the conservative nine-term congressman from Garden Grove, is ready to run for President.

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What? You thought this was about that other Californian, Pete Wilson, who’s still trying to make up his mind?

Naw. None of that indecision for the self-titled, “No Fear Team Dornan.”

With enough fire in the belly to heat up any after-chicken-dinner Republican crowd, Dornan lets it be known that he’s the only candidate who won’t mince words when it comes to President Clinton.

“We will sell tickets to a Dornan-Clinton debate!” he predicted, striking a fighter’s stance with clenched fists as he wrapped up his speech last weekend at a South Carolina GOP fund-raiser.

He also says that his campaign is “deadly serious,” even if conventional political thinkers aren’t paying him close attention yet.

Time Magazine, handicapping the early Republican contest, didn’t even place odds on Dornan’s chances of winning the nomination. (His fellow long shot, conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan, was given odds of 250 to 1.)

And recently, late-night talk show host Jay Leno joked that Buchanan’s entry into the presidential race could hurt Dornan. “It could split that all-important ‘nut’ vote in half.”

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Go ahead. Laugh. But as Dornan joins the pack of candidates trudging through the snowy streets of New Hampshire or the Iowa farm towns, he warns his audiences not to underestimate him.

“I am going to go the course here,” Dornan bellowed at a recent gathering of New Hampshire Republican activists. “New Hampshire, lead the way. Pick a winner. Pick a fighter!”

Sporting a watch that shows President Clinton falling on his backside and counts down the days to the Nov. 5, 1996, general election, Dornan says, “In my mind, after six months of campaigning, I am No. 4 (out of the current field of nine), and the people start comparing me to (former Tennessee Gov.) Lamar Alexander.”

How does he reach that conclusion?

First, he is counting on his national reputation--furthered by frequent appearances on radio talk shows and C-SPAN television--for his outspoken conservatism and biting criticism of President Clinton.

After being removed from the House floor for 24 hours in January for harshly accusing Clinton of giving “aid and comfort” to North Vietnam by opposing the war, Dornan received a hero’s welcome by radio hosts stationed in the basement of the nation’s Capitol.

Dornan also claims his military record is second only to Dole’s. On the campaign stump, the former Air Force pilot’s eyes grow wider and his cheeks grow pinkish as he passionately details the glories of wars past.

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When the campaign officially kicks off in mid-April--beginning in Orange County and making stops in Iowa and New Hampshire--the 19-member Dornan family will gather on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on Easter Sunday so that the congressman and his wife, Sallie, can renew their wedding vows on their 40th wedding anniversary.

“He’s my guy,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) recently, Dornan standing nearby. “Bob is a guy who stands foursquare for what I call traditional conservative values.”

Dornan concedes that he doesn’t have a prayer of raising the $25 million that generally separates the “front-runners” from the “also-rans.” But Dornan has that figured out too. Two direct-mail houses are cranked up to raise $5 million by the end of the year, which, when combined with federal matching funds, can make him competitive in Iowa and New Hampshire, he says.

Besides, he asks, “is that how we want to pick our President? Reward the best fund-raiser as commander-in-chief? My campaign will be message-driven, not money-driven.”