Dole Lightens Campaign as He Loosens Reins

He was wry, he was funny, chattier than usual, fast running out of clean clothes and really, really eager to return home to Washington after a long seven days on the bumpy campaign trail.

“The press thinks I only have one suit. So I’ve got to go back,” Bob Dole joked here Tuesday morning in what was billed as a major policy speech to the Orange County World Affairs Council but ended up more like a late-night monologue from the GOP comedy channel. “And I think they only have one suit.”

For those worried about their wardrobe, he added a hopeful note: “We are in the home stretch.”

Indeed, and the stress fractures are beginning to show. With the days until the election and Dole’s apparent prospects both dwindling to a precious few, the Republican candidate has taken back the reins of his campaign. He is his chief scheduler again, aides say, studying the map and deciding on the fly where to go each day.

So it’s Tuesday morning and where are we going? Stay tuned, as Dole is fond of saying. Where are we sleeping tonight? Stay tuned. Tomorrow? Stay tuned. The weekend, probably California again--but stay tuned.

The Irvine speech itself was a surprise, added Monday afternoon even as the itinerary called for the candidate and his entourage to spend the night in Denver.

“In the final stages of the campaign, the schedule is always very fluid,” Nelson Warfield, Dole’s press secretary, said as the delayed flight to Denver was readied following the speech in Irvine. “The campaign is trying to be very flexible, trying to turn on a dime.”

And with everything so clearly up in the air, a certain giddiness has taken over.

“The TelePrompTer doesn’t work, by the way,” Dole announced as he began his remarks at Irvine’s Atrium Hotel. And then he was off, giving Letterman and Leno a run for their money with the type of inside-the-Beltway humor at which he has long excelled but which he usually confines to private settings.

So what if they’d probably need a glossary to get these guffaws down at the pool hall, the PTA meeting, the grocery store, the doctor’s office, shoot, maybe even the stock exchange. Dole really cracked up his audience of about 400, even after telling them about the sacredness of the November election, that they were voting next Tuesday “for president, not talk-show host.”

* On Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, 93, who is favored to win another term and is a Dole role model: “I used to follow him around. When he ate a banana, I ate a banana. I even thought about him as a running mate to get a little balance.”

* On eligibility for one of the education-related tax breaks that President Clinton proposed during the campaign: “Ya gotta go to college. Ya gotta get a B average. Ya gotta keep your room clean.”

* On who will clean that room (Hint: Think of the former White House security aide who left after it was discovered he had improperly requested hundreds of FBI files on Republicans): “Maybe Craig Livingstone.”

As his crowd howled, Dole continued: “The guy got fired. A bouncer in a bar and they put him in charge of White House security. How do you like that? Ripley wouldn’t believe it if he were still alive. Believe it or not.”

* On allegations that hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the Democratic National Committee may have violated the ban on contributions from foreign sources: “As I’ve said, foreign aid has finally come to America. . . . I’m really pleased to be able to see it happen. I’ve waited a long time for money to come this way. It’s always going the other way.”

* On the brief 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which spells out the doctrine of states’ rights, and what Dole perceives has been biased coverage of his candidacy by the New York Times: “It [the amendment] is about 28 words, about what I’ll get in the New York Times today. They’ll all be negative, but 28 words is better than nothing.”

His listeners split their sides.

In between the laughs, Dole reprised the sharp critique of Clinton’s record on foreign policy that he first delivered a few weeks ago.

Under the president, he asserted, “American global interests have been dealt a serious setback around the world.” He reiterated a charge that Clinton was conducting “photo-opportunity foreign policy.”

Still, he again turned to humor to embellish his point. “His cruise missile attack had more impact on CNN than on Saddam Hussein,” Dole said of the military response Clinton ordered against the Iraqi dictator last month.

Wrapping up his appearance, Dole took a couple of softball questions (Sample: “If elected, will you pardon Bill Clinton?”)

Assessing the campaign, he quoted Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Then he gave his thumbnail sketch of how he will surprise the pundits and score an upset: “Our core states are in good shape. That gives us 138 electoral votes. We just need enough more to make it 270. With California,” and he whistled, cheerful to the end, “piece o’ cake. Thank you.”

And he’s gone.

Denver. D.C. Stay tuned.