Upbeat Dole, Kemp Open White House Bid

Showered with a rousing post-convention send-off by a seemingly united Republican Party, Bob Dole and Jack Kemp embarked Friday on their first campaign journey together harboring no illusions about the challenge ahead.

“Beating an incumbent president is not easy,” Dole acknowledged.

“It’s going to be tough,” Kemp added.

But the Republican Party standard-bearers vowed to retake the White House and, in Dole’s words, “complete the Reagan revolution” with an agenda rooted in supply-side economics.

“We’re going to work very hard,” Dole told a meeting of the Republican National Committee Friday morning before leaving San Diego. “Every state--and the District of Columbia--is going to be a battleground. . . . We will take our message across America.”

Though still lagging behind the Clinton-Gore ticket, Dole and Kemp had several reasons to feel upbeat as the week ended. Aides said that following the harmonious convention, Republican polling showed Dole had narrowed the Democratic incumbent’s lead to 9 or 10 percentage points. In addition, Dole and Kemp now have $62 million in their campaign cash box--a fresh infusion of public funds for the general election campaign, wired on Thursday by the Treasury Department.

After a hard-fought primary season, Dole’s campaign until now has had to count pennies. During that time, the Clinton-Gore campaign, faced with no internal opposition, was able to spend millions of dollars for advertising.

“We finally have some money--it came in yesterday. For 90 days, we were running on empty,” Dole said Friday, adding:

“I’m now leaving full of excitement, full of confidence.”

It remains to be seen whether Dole can sustain his momentum coming out San Diego. In recent weeks, he has not capitalized on several key campaign events, including his surprise resignation from the Senate and the unveiling of his economic agenda.

He and Kemp headed from California to four other states President Clinton carried in 1992--Colorado, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. The first stop was a late-afternoon rally in Denver, accompanied by a host of Colorado Republicans, including Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Rep. Dan Schaefer, and state House Speaker Chuck Berry.

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There, Dole told more than 1,000 cheering supporters that “above all, it [his campaign] is about trust. I trust the American people. President Clinton trusts the government.”

Dole and Kemp are scheduled to campaign together at the Illinois State Fair today and then fly to Buffalo, N.Y., where a rally is scheduled for Sunday.

Before departing San Diego, Dole made one more pitch for an across-the-board 15% cut in income tax rates and offered himself as a plain-speaking president who would level with the people--a message he underscored during his acceptance speech Thursday night.

“Telling the truth is important,” he told the RNC leaders.

“And if we don’t keep our word, if you can’t trust us, then throw us out,” Dole later told several hundred GOP faithful who braved a hot morning sun to give Dole and Kemp a send-off.

“But I trust the American people,” Dole added. “I believe people trust us and together we will make America a better place as we go into the next century.”

Kemp told the crowd that the tax cut would be “a down payment on a new code for America” that is simpler and fairer. He wore a San Diego Chargers jersey emblazoned with the number 15 he wore when he played professional football here 35 years ago. Dole got a jersey with the number 96 on it.

Also at the departure rally was Gov. Pete Wilson, who conceded that “there’s work to be done,” but vowed: “We’re going to deliver California’s 54 electoral votes.”

The country, Wilson said, “deserves a president we can believe and respect.”

Addressing the crowd before Dole spoke, Kemp said the Republicans will not only “save the [social safety] net” but will “make it stronger.”

He also echoed Dole’s Thursday night characterization of Clinton and Vice President Al Gore as “opponents” and not “enemies.”

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Dole was in an unusually good mood Friday morning. He showed up at a meeting of RNC leaders 25 minutes early, joking that he was looking for a cup of coffee. Then he sat patiently at the head table as Haley Barbour, the Republican Party chairman, wrapped up the remaining minutes of the RNC’s business meeting.

“We’ve just had a spectacular two weeks,” Barbour said, adding that Dole had “hit the ball out of the park” with his 57-minute acceptance speech.

The buoyant Dole offered nearly as many jokes as rallying cries. At one point, he caught himself after referring to Kemp, a former college and professional football star, as “the quarterback.”

“The FORMER quarterback,” Dole quickly added. “I’m the quarterback now.”

About 80 residents of Russell, Kan., flew to San Diego this week as an expression of support for their native son. Among them was Dole’s onetime optometrist and that prompted Dole to quip:

“I saw my optometrist right there in the front row. They said I don’t have any vision. There he was right in the first row. A man of vision. 20-20.”