Dole’s Rarest Senate Moves: He Gives Up Power, Keeps a Secret

The Senate, along with the rest of the capital’s political savants, went slack-jawed Wednesday, marveling at the rarest of possible sights in Washington--the voluntary surrender of power.

Bob Dole’s declaration that he will resign from the Senate is the culmination of weeks of soul-searching shared only with a tiny circle of confidants, including his wife, Elizabeth; former Presidents Ford and Bush; Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour; campaign manager Scott Reed; and his dog, Leader.

Dole deliberately told no senators, he joked in a tearful closed-door session with his colleagues, to make sure there were no leaks to the press.

“Keeping a secret for 60 days is a record in Washington,” Dole said.

No one begs to differ. Even Senate colleagues who have known him for decades were in the dark.

“He’s really smart,” said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). “He knows that if you want to tell the world something, you tell a senator.”

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Although political pundits and Dole allies have been urging him to step back from his position as majority leader, no one seems to have even considered the possibility that he might quit entirely.

But Dole says he made the decision about a month ago. After considering the arguments, he finally concluded that he would be better off severing all ties to the institution to which he has devoted 27 years of his life. (Dole served eight years in the House before his 1968 election to the Senate.)

While initially surprised that he would give up the enormous power and prestige he has accrued in Congress, colleagues said the move to boost his campaign is vintage Dole. He is a politician who keeps his own counsel and has fought against the odds throughout his life in the face of personal and political challenges.

“I was his assistant for 10 years,” said Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), who was Dole’s Republican whip during much of the 1980s. “I learned that, if you didn’t ask him, he’d just keep his own counsel.”

Nelson Warfield, Dole’s campaign spokesman, said the senator began seriously considering quitting the Senate altogether while sunning in Florida during the congressional Easter recess.

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By the time the recess ended, he had decided, according to a senior Dole official. The weeks that followed only confirmed his decision as he grew weary of battling Democrats hell-bent on raising the minimum wage and saw the Senate floor he thought would be a springboard to the presidency turn into a tar pit.

His standing in the polls plummeted even as he seized on two issues he hoped would power his campaign: His proposal to repeal the latest federal gas tax hike and his criticism of President Clinton’s judicial appointments.

In early May, Dole summoned Barbour to his Capitol office to give him the news.

“He had already decided to do this,” Barbour said. “The meeting was not about whether. It was about when and how.”

Few others were in the know. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi said Dole told him last week that as majority whip he would have to assume more leadership duties starting this summer, but Lott never dreamed Dole meant to quit.

Even as late as Tuesday night, his colleagues and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) were unaware. They assumed Dole was doing nothing more drastic than handing off day-to-day responsibilities of running the Senate.

“I had no inkling,” said Gingrich, who like many Republicans was sporting an enormous Dole campaign sticker on his lapel.

Word began to spread early Wednesday. Gingrich found out when Dole reached him on his car phone. Tom Korologos, a Washington lobbyist who is close to Dole, found out when Reed called him.

Dole told Clinton by telephone at 12:45 p.m. But by then Clinton already had heard the news through the media.

“You’ve succeeded in surprising us all,” he told Dole.

Dole’s voice cracked when he told his colleagues, “I’m sure I’m doing the right thing,” according to one senator in attendance.

His colleagues wasted no time thinking about what his departure means for those Dole is leaving behind. Several senators immediately began campaigning among their colleagues to succeed Dole as majority leader. Said Bennett: “All of a sudden we’ve got intrigue in the halls over leadership fights.”

Times staff writers Ronald Brownstein and Edwin Chen contributed to this story.