Alexander Readies Bid for Presidential Run

Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander said Thursday he will take the first formal step toward becoming a Republican candidate in the 2000 presidential race today.

“I’m going to announce my exploratory committee,” he said in a television interview.

Alexander will be the third Republican to file documents with the Federal Election Commission establishing a campaign committee, following the lead of U.S. Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Bob Smith of New Hampshire.

Alexander said he will make a formal announcement in about a month and that he hopes to have the opportunity to run a campaign “to bring out the best in our country.”

“I think we’ve spent a lot of time over the past year, especially, thanks to the president, going as low as we can go, and I’d like to see how high we can go,” he said.

Former Cabinet secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole left her post as head of the American Red Cross on Monday, clearing the way for a possible presidential run as a GOP candidate.

There has been no definitive word from Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the early Republican favorite, about his presidential intentions, but time is comparatively short for candidates, who need to raise a minimum of $20 million in 1999, to run a credible campaign in 2000.

Alexander sought the Republican nomination in 1996 by portraying himself as a Washington outsider and champion of smaller government.

He liked to stump in a red-and-black checked “lumberjack” shirt, meant to symbolize his claim to being a different kind of candidate--aloof from the Washington establishment and committed to returning many federal programs to state control.

Alexander, 59, was elected governor of Tennessee in 1978. He and his wife, Honey, have four children.