Dole Scoffs at Polls, Seeks to Conjure the Truman Magic

Vowing to defy the polls and silence the pundits, Republican presidential challenger Bob Dole predicted Tuesday that he would repeat the upset performance of another underdog--President Harry S. Truman.

“I never did meet President Dewey, did you?” Dole asked the crowd, chuckling at his reference to the Republican governor of New York who was widely expected to win the 1948 presidential race.

“I’m like Harry Truman,” Dole said. “I’m from the Midwest. I’m plain-spoken. I’m going to win--whether you like it or not.”

Dole made the link between himself and the most famous upset winner in presidential elections as he wrapped up a two-day bus trip through Michigan, one of the many states where he is struggling to overcome President Clinton. Democratic tracking polls in the state this week showed Clinton leading Dole by 18 percentage points.

Recent national polls, meanwhile, have shown Dole down by anywhere from 11 to 21 points. Those numbers mean that a Dole victory on election day would dwarf Truman’s victory. The Gallup Poll--in 1948 the most respected survey of voter opinion--showed Truman trailing by only 6 points by late September.

Clinton also was in Michigan on Tuesday, delivering a major address on U.S. foreign policy in Detroit. Before departing the city, he stopped at a diner in the Polish American community of Hamtramck for a lunch of stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes, pirogies, kielbasa, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and gravy.

He then traveled to Florida, a state Republicans normally can count on in presidential elections but where polls show a close race. At a rally at Miami-Dade Community College, he touted himself as more committed to education than Dole, revisiting a theme he broached Monday at a community college in Ohio.

Clinton singled out for attack Dole’s call for abolishing the federal Department of Education. Under that proposal, the president said, the country would “go into the 21st century with not a single soul in the president’s Cabinet speaking for the education of our children.”

Meanwhile, Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot kept up his attack on America’s national debt and trade deficit on Tuesday.

“A nation cannot be a superpower unless it is an economic superpower,” the Texas billionaire told about 500 people attending a Los Angeles World Affairs Council dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Perot peppered the audience with the sort of folksy language and economic statistics that earned his presidential bid 19% of the vote in 1992.

But this election season, Perot is polling in the single digits, and his delivery was subdued as he recited his litany: that China now manufactures two-thirds of the world’s shoes; that a company can hire 47 Vietnamese workers for what it costs to hire one American worker; that if a map of the United States represented all of the taxes collected nationally, “All taxes west of the Mississippi are needed just to pay interest on the [national] debt, and that line is moving east.”

Perot summed up his talk: “The budget must be balanced, trade must be rebuilt, public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials must be controlled.”

Dole had a different focus on the campaign trail. As he mounted the stage at his rallies in Michigan, bands played the song famed Motown singer Aretha Franklin made famous--”Respect.” And that was the same appeal the candidate made to his audiences as he stopped in eight communities and finished off his day with a rally in Ohio.

Truman wasn’t the only come-from-behind candidate Dole was comparing himself to during his stump speeches in Michigan. He repeatedly drew upon the analogy of the state’s popular governor, Republican John Engler, who polls predicted would lose when he swept into office in 1990. Since then, the state has experienced a dramatic economic recovery.

“I do believe I can make America over, like John Engler made Michigan over,” Dole said.

Dole’s mood ranged from distracted to delighted during his day. He has been plagued by a cold the last few days, and in the morning it still seemed to be affecting him. But during his rally in Troy, some interruptions from the crowd seemed to get him revved up.

While Dole was pitching the main tenet of his economic program--a 15% cut in income tax rates, a man yelled out: “Where’s the 15% gonna come from?”

Fielding the question, Dole answered back: “We’re going to stop spending on some of those crazy programs President Clinton talks about.”

A couple minutes later, another man burst out with an impromptu tribute to the candidate, and the crowd erupted in energetic applause.

“I like it, anybody else?” Dole asked with a broad smile. “This is the kind of spirit that will win the election!”

The stage had been set at the rally for Dole to provide a renewed hit on Clinton’s ethics--one man who warmed up the crowd likened the Democratic platform to a “manure spreader,” while another roamed the half-empty field in a rubber Clinton mask and giant waffle costume.

Dole responded to these cues, painting the Clinton White House as up for sale to the highest bidder.

“If anything you ever wanted in your life, these next two weeks, it’s time to write the president,” Dole laughingly urged his crowd.

“You want to spend a night in the Lincoln bedroom for, say, $100,000? We’ll get it for you. Whatever you want we’ll do it. You want to go to Indonesia? We’ll arrange the trip. You want to go to India to see some of Gandhi’s relatives who gave $300,000 and owe $10,000 in back taxes, we’ll work it out for you. . . . “

It was an indirect reference to recent controversy over large contributions to the Democratic National Committee from foreigners, including interests associated with an Indonesian financial conglomerate and a donor named Yogesh K. Gandhi, a distant relative of Mahatma Gandhi.

By evening, Dole’s earlier lethargy had vanished and he was clearly cheered by the 5,000 exuberant supporters he drew to Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, for one of his best recent rallies.

Despite the enthusiasm, there appeared to be a growing sense of resignation among some of Dole’s supporters.

“I would like to say that he can still win, but honestly I don’t think so,” said Suzanne Hamilton, 37, who attended the Ohio rally with her four children. “I think it’s a sad commentary on our country. I think it means nobody cares. Clinton has shown over and over again that he is a liar.”

But sharing the optimism Dole expressed was Don Laforest, 51, a Clinton look-alike who wore a T-shirt that read: “I’ve been told I look like Bill Clinton, but lately, he’s looking more like me--Republican.”

“I think Dole has a very good chance because I think the polls are slanted,” asserted Laforest, who said he voted for Clinton in 1992. “I’m afraid of what the next four years with Clinton would bring when he doesn’t have to face the American public again.”

Times staff writer John M. Broder contributed to this story.