Campaign ’96 / REPUBLICANS : Allies Hope to Put Dole Back in Driver’s Seat : After several bumps in the road, supporters are offering encouragement and advice. Their efforts may be producing some signs of a turnaround.

It was a photo opportunity Sen. Bob Dole couldn’t resist--hopping into the driver’s seat Wednesday of BMW’s latest model, the Z3 convertible used in the recent James Bond movie “Goldeneye.”

Nor could one of his own supporters resist posing the question the rest of the political world is pondering. With Dole pretending to take a drive, South Carolina Gov. David Beasley leaned over and asked him: “Senator, do you know where you’re going and how to get there?”

The answer, for the moment, seems clear--Dole is hoping that a win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary will once again open a straight path for him that leads to the Republican presidential nomination.

Even as his legion of supporters among GOP leaders continues to provide encouragement, many remain apprehensive about the course of the campaign.

“The message is not as clear as it can be and should be,” one Senate Republican ally said Wednesday. “He needs to distinguish himself from [President] Clinton--not so much from [Steve] Forbes, [Patrick J.] Buchanan and [Lamar] Alexander--and to remind them who Bob Dole is.”

With that in mind, a group of 10 core Dole backers in Congress met Tuesday to assess his campaign. They then sent a delegation of four--Sens. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)--to see Dole on Wednesday, offering the group’s assistance and advice.

“The whole pitch was to bolster his confidence in himself about who he is and encourage him to maintain his confidence,” a Senate source said.

The meeting may have paid immediate dividends. Stealing away to South Carolina for an afternoon on the campaign trail, Dole was able to accomplish a task that has proved elusive to his meandering campaign--defining a message and sticking to it.

Dole toured the BMW automobile factory in Greer--a foreign-owned plant critical to the local economy. He used the setting to draw a clear contrast between himself and his main GOP rival in the South Carolina race: Buchanan.

His foe’s protectionist trade message, Dole argued, is illogical in a state increasingly successful in luring foreign companies to replace textile jobs.

Referring to the BMW factory--the company’s first plant outside Germany, with a 1,500-person work force that is slated to expand soon--Dole said: “That’s what it’s all about in America. It’s about competition, it’s about growth, it’s about opportunity for American workers and this [plant] is a very powerful example of what happens when you can trade, you can sell, you can make a good product.”

Dole then turned his attention to greeting workers who had waited for him at the factory entrance. One sought to comfort him.

“I’m praying for you,” said Elaine Brush, a personnel manager. “I’m praying that you’ll find your way.”

With his surprise loss to Buchanan in the New Hampshire primary followed a week later by his defeat in Tuesday’s Arizona primary to Forbes, it’s been a rocky period for Dole.

But as he began concentrating Wednesday on the South Carolina contest, both he and his staff were upbeat. They focused on the positive--his two wins Tuesday in the North and South Dakota primaries.

They also found solace in the fact that he finished second in Arizona, ahead of Buchanan, despite erroneous exit-poll predictions that had him running what would have been a disheartening third.

Dole’s spirits also had to be cheered by a reception he received on Capitol Hill even before Tuesday’s results were known.

With Congress’ three-week recess at an end, Dole returned from the campaign trail for the weekly strategy session among Senate Republicans. He was greeted with a spontaneous standing ovation as he entered the closed-door meeting.

After acknowledging the applause, he made a special point of thanking Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, his onetime rival for the GOP nomination, for his endorsement after dropping out of the race just before the New Hampshire vote. And Gramm joined Dole on the stump in South Carolina on Wednesday.

Colleagues who saw and chatted with Dole during his swing through the Capitol on Tuesday and Wednesday said he seemed undaunted by the recent electoral jolts that have removed his label of “front-runner.”

“He’s been through this before,” said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). “He understands that campaigns have their ups and downs. He’s pretty sanguine about it. He recognizes it’s going to be a longer road than maybe we anticipated.”

Gregg added: “There is concern, but general optimism as well. Sure, we’d like to have him in a little better position, but the calendar [of upcoming primaries in several Southern and New England states] works in our favor.”

Through it all, Dole has kept his acerbic humor. As he pressed the flesh at the BMW plant, he was asked by reporters to respond to Buchanan terming him earlier in the day “the bellhop of the Business Roundtable.”

Cracked Dole: “He’s got to have fun, I guess. It beats working.”

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Primary Results

Results from Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona, North Dakota and South Dakota:

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Forbes Dole Buchanan Alexander ARIZ. % OF VOTE 33% 30% 27% 7% (99%) DELEGATES 39 0 0 0 N.D. % OF VOTE 20% 42% 18% 6% (100%) DELEGATES 4 8 3 1 S.D. % OF VOTE 13% 45% 29% 9% (100%) DELEGATES 0 11 7 0 DELEGATES TO DATE* 60 35 37 10

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* includes delegates won in other states

Note: 996 delegates needed for nomination