Dole Goes To New Hampshire
Leaving little doubt about her intentions, Elizabeth Dole says America needs a president "worthy of her people" and already is raising money from supporters who think she is worth a look in 2000.
"I'm talking to people about finances and policy and organization," she told reporters on her first trip to New Hampshire since leaving the American Red Cross in January to consider a presidential campaign.
Originally billed as a speech on volunteerism, Mrs. Dole switched gears and got political, reports Correspondent David Robichaud of CBS News Station WBZ-TV in Boston.
"There has been a little speculation that I might run for president," Mrs. Dole told an applauding audience. "And if I run, this will be an important reason why: because the United States of America deserves a government worthy of her people."
Mrs. Dole coyly hinted at plans to position herself as a moderating force in the 2000 campaign before more than a thousand people at a Chamber of Commerce awards dinner Monday night. She arrived in this first-in-the-nation primary state late Monday and planned to leave Tuesday, following a private breakfast meeting with supporters.
Mrs. Dole said that the next president "should see to it that your taxes are cut, our defenses rebuilt, drugs are reviled and our schools are put back in the control of parents."
"It's very encouraging for me," she said. "There are a lot of people volunteering, and there is some money coming in."
The remark about fund raising surprised Mrs. Dole's advisers, who initially said they did not know how she was collecting the money. Later they said checks made out to "Elizabeth Dole exploratory committee" were being accepted and could be used to defray expenses, though papers forming a committee -- viewed as the first step toward a presidential campaign -- had not yet been filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Such fund raising is permitted, as long as the money is used to open an office, buy stamps and pay for travel, Mrs. Dole said as she headed to a breakfast meeting with potential supporters in Bedford, N.H., Tuesday morning. She did not answer a question about how much money had been raised, and her advisers said they did not know.
Mrs. Dole is almost certain to become a candidate, said the advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. She plans to travel to Iowa next week, hire campaign staff as early as this week and officially form an exploratory committee in the near future, they said.
New Hampshire voters may not know where she stands on the issues, but that hasn't hurt her popularity there. A recent poll said she has 97 percent name recognition in the Granite State.
On Monday night, Mrs. Dole downplayed her possible role as the only female candidate, insisting that the most votes would go to the worthiest candidate.
"The person who wins this election, it will be on the person's qualificatios, the person who is best qualified with the most experience to talk on the awsome job of president of the United States."
Mrs. Dole would be in a field of potential GOP candidates that, besides Texas Gov. George W. Bush, includes businessman Steve Forbes, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, Rep. John Kasich of Ohio, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Vice President Dan Quayle and social activist Gary Bauer.
Without naming President Clinton, she said the nation's current leader is lacking.
"At a time when the presidency has been tainted ... our confidence in our leaders is shaky," she said. "But we can rebuild it."
Her husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, warned voters of a "sleaze factor in the White House" late in his failed 1996 campaign for president.
Mrs. Dole, 62, served in the Cabinets of Presidents Reagan and Bush after starting in politics in the Democratic administration of President Johnson. She was a key player in her husband's presidential races.
Women appeared to be particularly struck by Mrs. Dole's call for civility in politics, and her reference to the next president "he or she." Good reviews crossed party lines.
"I think she was not necessarily a good speaker but I like what she said," Ghee Fry said. "She kept saying she was a conservative, but sounded like a Democrat, like a liberal."