Storm Keeps Dole Off the Iowa Campaign Trail

The budget battle with President Clinton, the government shutdowns, the great blizzard of ‘96--and now Mother Nature has again swept Bob Dole off the campaign trail.

In what was to be his first appearance in Iowa since the debate among the Republican presidential contenders last weekend, the Senate majority leader found himself hemmed in Thursday by fog in Washington and wind-whipped snow in Iowa, forcing him to cancel a day of politicking aimed at solidifying his support among agricultural interests.

It was the latest in a series of events that have conspired to keep the GOP front-runner holed up in the Capitol rather than here campaigning for support in Iowa’s crucial Feb. 12 caucuses.

“I tried to get there from Washington but we were fogged in--which is not unusual for Congress,” Dole told supporters by telephone at an afternoon rally at a Des Moines hotel.

The unforgiving Midwest storm, which paralyzed much of the Plains and sent the windchill factor plummeting to 50 degrees below zero, prevented Dole from making a campaign swing through northern Iowa for what his staff dubbed “Farm Day.”

Instead, his staff settled for the Des Moines rally, with scheduled appearances by Dole’s wife, Elizabeth, and crooner Pat Boone, chairman of Families for Dole.

They didn’t make it either.

“I am so disappointed,” Elizabeth Hanford Dole told the 70 supporters by phone hookup from Omaha, where her plane eventually landed. “We’ve been circling right above you for 20 to 25 minutes.”

Both she and Dole used their call-ins to stress the senator’s record as an advocate of “traditional values” and an opponent of abortion. Indeed, the rally was a paean to the American family, as well as to Ione Dilley, the head of Iowa’s Christian Coalition whose endorsement of Dole in recent days was a major victory for his campaign.

There were profuse thank yous to Dilley--twice from Bob Dole, “a special thanks” from his wife, gratitude from Gov. Terry E. Branstad. And then there was Dilley herself, quietly announcing her support of Dole and clearly enunciating what it hinges on.

“As a pro-life activist, my No. 1 priority is to help ensure that the person sitting in the Oval Office recognizes the value of human life,” she said. “There is no stronger defender in the U.S. Senate than Bob Dole . . . of the rights of the unborn.”

Dilley’s backing is a boost to Dole not only because Christian Coalition members are a sizable segment of the state GOP, but also because some of them recently have questioned Dole’s commitment to the anti-abortion cause.

In his brief address to the audience, Dole did his part to quell those doubts, criticizing Clinton for acquiescing to “the most radical abortionists in his party” by threatening to veto a bill to ban partial-birth abortions.

“I’ve pleaded with him” not to reject the legislation, Dole said. “All of our talk about less violence and a more humane society is hollow if we can’t protect the sanctity of all human life.”

“Families are the building blocks of civilization and the source of our nation’s strength,” Elizabeth Dole said. “That’s why families are on the top of Bob Dole’s agenda.”

LaVerne Anderson, 59, applauded such sentiments. Anderson braved the blinding snow to attend the rally and didn’t mind that Dole himself was not on hand.

“We’ve seen him so much anyway that missing one time is not that big a deal,” Anderson said.