Dole Drops Bid for Presidency, Leaves a Legacy

Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the first woman to wage a serious campaign for president, abruptly abandoned her bid Wednesday, thwarting history but smoothing the way for the next woman to seek the White House.

“The bottom line is money,” she said at a Washington press conference, noting the vast sums available to Republican rivals George W. Bush and Steve Forbes. “It would be futile to continue.”

But even falling short, Dole’s effort may have inched the country closer to the day when a woman can be elected president. She ran a steady--albeit distant--second to Texas Gov. Bush in national polls, and bested Democratic Vice President Al Gore in theoretical match-ups.

“On balance, you have to say it’s absolutely a net gain,” said political analyst Elizabeth Sherman of the University of Massachusetts. “Elizabeth Dole, no matter how you look at it, is a trailblazer.”

Still, Dole’s campaign never capitalized on her enormous potential and the vast good will and excitement--particularly among women--that attended her entry into the race last winter.

Partly, that was a measure of the phenomenal success of Bush and the strong impetus within the Republican Party to rally around a perceived winner, luring everyone from religious conservatives to moderate soccer moms into the Bush camp. But Dole’s effort suffered, too, from the obvious difficulty she had as a neophyte contender, starting at the top with a run for the White House.

Dole, 63, served in two presidential Cabinets and made countless campaign appearances over the years on behalf of her husband, Bob Dole--a four-time national contender and the 1996 GOP nominee--but she never seemed altogether comfortable as a candidate in her own right.

She swerved fitfully between moderation and a harder line, outlining bold stands on gun control (favoring safety locks) and public education (increasing federal funding) with virtually no follow-through. She gave a series of speeches--on drugs, education and defense policy--but left many blanks that were never filled in. She also seemed unsettled by the jarring rhythms and unpredictable nature of day-in, day-out campaigning, constantly struggling to cope with situations she couldn’t control.

“She ran as a Cabinet secretary would, where you’re able to pick your moments and the place of your choice to make a splash,” said one advisor who was frequently at Dole’s side. “In a presidential campaign, you don’t have the ability to pick the times and places. So much is imposed on you. That’s a difficult adjustment to make if you’ve never run before.”

Dole’s surprise exit--just over two weeks before her planned announcement tour--further diminished a rapidly shrinking GOP field and underscored the vastly accelerated pace of the 2000 presidential campaign, which has put a premium on money and momentum. Four others have already quit the Republican race, months before any votes are cast.

Seven remain, although commentator Patrick J. Buchanan is expected to depart the GOP on Monday to seek the Reform Party nomination.

But even if Dole failed to gain a solid footing in the race, observers said, she nevertheless made significant strides for other women in politics.

Although “she took none of the traditional routes to office--she wasn’t a military hero, vice president, a senator or governor--people took her seriously,” said Georgia Duerst-Lahti, a Beloit College professor who has written extensively on gender and politics. “It’s almost remarkable she was in the ring as a contender for as long as she was.”

Anne Wexler, a veteran Democratic policy consultant and friend of Dole, agreed: “She was not marginalized in any way. She was just overwhelmed.”

That reality sank in Sunday, during a five-hour flight home from Seattle, where Dole received a warm--but hardly impassioned--response at a convention of Republican women. She made up her mind to quit after digesting the latest campaign finance figures, which showed Bush with nearly $38 million in the bank, compared to less than $900,000 for Dole. Forbes, a multimillionaire publisher, has been tapping his personal fortune to finance his campaign.

“My schedule through early December would have taken me to a total of 108 fund-raising events across America,” Dole said Wednesday. “Even then, these rivals would enjoy a 75- to 80-to-1 cash advantage. Perhaps I could handle 2 to 1, or 10 to 1. But not 80 to 1.”

Crisp and composed, Dole brushed aside questions about whether she would endorse one of the remaining GOP contenders--or would consider the vice presidency if offered, saying she had not had time to think about it.

With her husband standing alongside and fighting back tears, Dole offered no hints of her plans. But she intends to remain politically active. “I’m a long way from the twilight,” she said.

Dole’s former rivals were quick to pay tribute, along with President Clinton, who called her exit “a loss to the Republican Party and a loss to the nation.”

Her departure leaves Forbes and Arizona Sen. John McCain as those most likely to challenge Bush for the nomination. McCain recently pulled ahead of Dole in the surveys in New Hampshire, the kickoff primary state.

But Dole’s departure could ultimately help Bush, since polls have shown him to be the second choice of most Dole supporters.

In the larger scheme, analysts said, Dole’s greatest legacy may be turning the extraordinary--a woman running for president and being taken seriously--into something rather more ordinary.

Dole’s candidacy may have been most noteworthy for the sheer lack of wonder--and dismissive commentary--that accompanied previous presidential campaigns waged by women, whether Margaret Chase Smith in 1964, Shirley Chisholm in 1972, or Patricia Schroeder, who considered a run in 1988.

Even the historic selection of Geraldine Ferraro as vice president on the Democratic ticket in 1984 was seen more as a desperation move by nominee Walter F. Mondale than a serious threat to the established political order.

Dole showed future female candidates how they should--and shouldn’t--seek the White House, said Sherman, who heads the University of Massachusetts Center for Women and Politics and Public Policy.

While a serious female candidate can excite the imagination, she can’t ignore the basics: “You absolutely have to start earlier and build the organization to turn the public’s interest into real, tangible assets,” Sherman said. “Capturing the public’s imagination is great . . . but you’ve got to have a very strong foundation of assets in terms of money and message to carry it through.”

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Times political writer Ronald Brownstein contributed to this story.

Video of Elizabeth Dole’s announcement to withdraw from the race is available on The Times’ Web site:

https://www.latimes.com/politics