Dole Slow to Capitalize on Unusual Second Chance

For Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the trick is to keep history from repeating itself.

Six months ago, the Republican presidential candidate burst into the race tied with Texas Gov. George W. Bush. She promptly frittered away her momentum, landing back in the pack with the other also-rans.

Now, after her respectable third-place showing in Saturday’s much-hyped Iowa straw poll, Dole has that rarest of political gifts: a second chance. Yet with upbeat publicity on her side and Bush stumbling over whether he used illegal drugs and how long ago, Dole has done little publicly to capitalize on her newfound opportunity.

The former secretary of Transportation and Labor has declined to talk about her views on a host of issues. She has publicly confused both her position and the federal law on abortion funding. She has been criticized for oversimplifying solutions to stem the flow of drugs into America. The candidate and her aides insist that she is doing well, but a new Dole who sounded strikingly like the old Dole was on display Thursday at a fund-raising lunch in Irvine. She talked expansively about her 30 years of public service but skipped lightly over substantive issues. The sole exception came when she blasted the Clinton-Gore administration’s handling of narcotics trafficking. But even then Dole seemed to go out of her way to stay in maddeningly low gear. In her speech at an Irvine hotel, she declared that “it is wrong when we continue to coddle countries that are the gateway for illegal drugs into America.” She added later that 60% of illegal drugs come into the United States through Mexico, though she did not specifically say that Mexico was being coddled.

Asked by reporters afterward what she would do, she cited “diplomacy” and an “arsenal of tools” but stopped short of anything specific.

“You don’t announce today what you would do with Mexico two years from now,” she said.

At that, aides started pulling the candidate away. Only as she was leaving did she allow that Mexico “qualifies” as a coddled nation in her mind.

Dole’s criticism of the Democratic administration’s handling of the drug trade was a muted version of the bipartisan grumbling that greeted Clinton earlier this year when he certified Mexico as a full partner in the War on Drugs.

But her complaint focused narrowly on Clinton’s fiscal 2000 budget for drug interception, which she said was $400 million lower than this year’s.

The overall amount spent by both the United States and Mexico to counter drug trafficking has risen during the Democratic tenure.

“Drug-fighting money should be up, but so too should be interdiction,” said Dole spokesman Ari Fleischer.

To some political analysts, Dole’s campaign in the five days since the straw poll is eerily reminiscent of the early months of her effort, when she seemed unable or unwilling to shift into high gear as the spotlight focused on her.

“Somehow she needs to build some momentum here,” said political analyst Stu Rothenberg, who was surprised that Dole did not seize on a particular issue or theme after Iowa. “I think you have a candidate problem here.”

Rothenberg contrasted Dole’s recent behavior with the attention she received in late spring. Shortly after the Columbine High School shootings in April, Dole staked out a more centrist position on gun control than her GOP peers--advocating the banning of some assault weapons and safety locks on others.

Yet in Iowa last week, days after the shootings of children and workers at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, Dole omitted any mention of gun control. Nor did she bring up the subject in Irvine.

For Dole, the last few days have been something of a roller-coaster ride.

Immediately after the straw poll, Dole spoke to larger-than-normal crowds in New Hampshire. But within 48 hours she found herself in the cross-fire. In an interview with the Washington Post, she said she opposes federal funding for any abortions and stated that her views coincide with federal law.

When she was told that federal law allows funding for abortion in the case of rape, incest or threat to the mother’s life, she said she wanted to check the facts. A spokesman later said she supports the federal law.

Fleischer said Thursday that he rejects the notion that Dole has not capitalized on her new opportunity.

As for elaborating on issues or themes, the spokesman said pointedly: “Anybody who does that in the last two weeks of August isn’t reaching voters; they’re reaching pundits. You make news when voters are paying attention.”

That, he said, would be after Labor Day, when Dole is scheduled to outline specifics of a tax cut plan and other proposals.

A Dole partisan also said that the campaign is reluctant to say anything that draws attention away from front-runner Bush’s difficulties.

“There’s other news today that no one’s going to compete with,” the partisan said. Dole herself refused to discuss Bush.

Dole did have some good news during her Irvine visit, which is part of a four-state swing that took her from Utah to Orange County to Los Angeles today and will finish in Oregon and Washington.

Press secretary Michael Paranzino said that Dole’s expected take from her campaign swing is $175,000, up from the $125,000 expected when it began Wednesday.

The lunch donors Thursday were enthusiastic about Dole, and some gave more than the $250-per-plate minimum.

But the 50 donors paled in comparison with the high hundreds whom Bush drew two months ago at the same hotel, the Hyatt Regency Irvine. And her take of approximately $30,000 was dwarfed by his luncheon receipts, which exceeded $500,000.