7,000 at GOP Picnic Hear Dole, McCain

At the annual GOP Picnic on Vashon Island, just west of Seattle, more than 7,000 people turned out to hear presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Hanford Dole and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. The gala rivaled the recent Iowa straw poll in orchestration and glitz. “It was a wonderful victory for me in Iowa,” Dole told the crowd. She had finished third in the nonbinding straw poll Aug. 14, behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush and publisher Steve Forbes. McCain hammered on the themes of campaign-finance reform, increased military salaries and readiness, tax reform and local school control.