New Hampshire Governor Set to Endorse Dole, Sources Say

New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill plans to endorse Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) for President, Republican sources said Monday, in what would be a major boost to the front-runner’s candidacy in that state.

Dole has tentatively scheduled a campaign trip to Manchester Wednesday morning to appear with Merrill, whose endorsement has been avidly sought by the field of Republican candidates.

One New Hampshire Republican said Merrill had concluded that Dole is the candidate “capable of continuing the conservative movement” triggered by the elections of 1994 and that none of the other candidates now in the race “has demonstrated any capability to do that.”

Merrill said some positive things about Colin L. Powell at the beginning of the retired general’s book-promotion tour, but sources said he has grown increasingly doubtful that Powell is fully committed to the conservative principles and policies that Merrill believes are at the heart of the Republican legislative agenda in Washington.

Powell has said he will decide sometime this month whether to become a candidate for President and continued to deliberate privately. Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour, who met with Powell last week, said Monday he hopes Powell will run as a Republican if he decides to be a candidate.

Reacting to criticism of Powell from some GOP conservatives, Barbour said Powell’s apparent support for free enterprise, lower taxes, less government and less regulation, along with his record of promoting a strong national defense, put him within the party’s mainstream. “As far as believing in traditional American values, that’s the life he’s lived,” Barbour said.