Dole’s Choice for Keynote Speaker Draws Criticism

The roiling Republican conflict over abortion flared again Tuesday as a leading social conservative criticized Bob Dole’s selection of an abortion-rights supporter to deliver the keynote address at the August GOP convention in San Diego.

Most party leaders, including Dole nemesis Patrick J. Buchanan, praised the choice for the high-profile speech of Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.), an energetic moderate and new mother who opposes efforts to ban abortion. But Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed raised red flags over Dole’s decision.

In a statement, Reed said that while he and his followers appreciate the need for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to close the gender gap--the higher support President Clinton receives from women voters in the polls--”we stress that [Dole] must remain sensitive and committed to the needs of social conservatives. . . .”

Reed also expressed concern that Dole’s choice of Molinari signals he is tilting toward choosing an abortion-rights supporter as his running mate.

Still, the effect of Reed’s dissent was diluted when Buchanan, a leading GOP conservative and Dole’s main rival for the presidential nomination, issued a statement praising the choice. While saying that he and Molinari “disagree, deeply, over the issues of life and social policy,” Buchanan added that she “is an articulate, passionate voice inside our great and diverse party.”

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (D-Miss.), another leading conservative, said it was misguided to criticize Molinari for her position on abortion. “I just don’t think we ought to be nit-picking every candidate’s position on every issue,” Lott said.

Dole made similar comments when he unexpectedly named Molinari as his keynote pick Monday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live” interview show.

Molinari, 38, is serving her third House term representing a district from New York City’s Staten Island, a seat once held by her father, Guy Molinari. Though an aggressive partisan, she has compiled a generally moderate voting record, particularly on social issues. In addition to supporting abortion rights, she backed Clinton’s ban on semiautomatic assault weapons in 1993.

An early Dole supporter, she offers his campaign a chance not only to reach out to moderates but also to the young and middle-age parents that the Clinton campaign has systematically courted with an array of values-related proposals.

Married to Rep. Bill Paxon, a Republican who represents a district in Buffalo, Molinari gave birth to the couple’s daughter in May; at a news conference Tuesday, she held the sleeping child over her shoulder while she fielded questions from reporters.

“She is a young, bright, articulate woman at a time when the Dole campaign would like to reach out to young, bright, articulate women,” said a source close to Molinari.

Dole, for his part Tuesday, moved to heal any lingering wounds from the primary season by lunching with eight of the men he defeated. Only Buchanan, who nominally remains in the race, was a no-show.

Shrugging off Dole’s slipping poll numbers, the onetime rivals insisted the presidential race wouldn’t really begin until next month’s convention. “He is never going to get the kind of focused coverage that’s necessary to define who he is and what he wants to do until he gets to the convention,” said Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas).

But publishing magnate Steve Forbes, who ran on a flat-tax platform, cautioned that Dole’s prospects would not improve without a “dramatic” economic package of tax cuts and simplification--something Dole has promised to deliver in the next few weeks.

Other former candidates at the lunch were Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), Illinois businessman Morry Taylor and former State Department official Alan Keyes.