Dole Sends a Signal on Senate Run

Signaling strong interest in running for the Senate in North Carolina next year, Elizabeth Hanford Dole on Thursday asked county officials in Kansas to remove her from the voting rolls there and said she planned to register “in another jurisdiction” in the near future.

White House and national party officials regard Dole as the strongest candidate the GOP could find to run for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and hope her entry into the race will avoid a divisive primary next spring. But one Republican strategist said Thursday that former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot could enter the GOP race as early as today.

President Bush, while acknowledging Dole’s abilities, declined to back anyone should there be a primary race.

” . . . As you know, one of the things the president doesn’t do is get involved in all the speculation on these run-ups for these different candidacies,” Bush said.

He said Dole “would make a fine candidate. I’ve competed against her once before and she was formidable and a fine lady, there’s no question about that.”

With the Democrats holding a one-seat margin in the Senate, Republicans can’t afford to lose the Helms seat in 2002 if they hope to recapture control.

That’s caused some Republicans privately to question whether Dole can run a successful Senate campaign, and several said Thursday it was important for her to establish her candidacy quickly to allay those concerns.

A GOP strategist in Washington said Dole, who’s served as secretary of Labor and of Transportation, had taken steps to shift her residence to Salisbury, N.C., where she’s been staying with her mother, to try to satisfy the state’s registration requirements.

“I am writing to inform your office that I am terminating my voter registration in Russell County effective immediately, as I am registering to vote in another jurisdiction,” read Dole’s letter to County Clerk Simone Ginther in Kansas. “Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.”

Ginther said Dole has been registered in Kansas since September 1976, the year her husband, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, ran for vice president.