Experience, Endorsements Help Dole Gain Supporters

MANCHESTER, N.H.--Just four days after Republican presidential candidate Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) threw in the towel, he threw his support to once-rival U.S. Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) Sunday afternoon.

"We need to make the Republican party a united party, committed to beating Bill Clinton and bringing the country together," Gramm said in Dole's packed headquarters in Manchester. "There's only one candidate in the race who can do the job--his name is Bob Dole."

But even Gramm's endorsement may not be enough to secure victory for the front-runner in today's New Hampshire primary.

With most polls placing Dole, conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander in a statistical dead heat, Dole hit the campaign trail last weekend no longer portraying himself as the most qualified candidate for the nomination. Instead, he made a desperate effort to appear as the GOP's only legitimate hope for reclaiming the White House.

Dole initially brought a moderate tone with him to New Hampshire after his slim victory in last Monday's Iowa Caucus.

In Thursday's nationally televised debate at WMUR-TV, ABC's Manchester affiliate, Dole stressed the need for free trade to bolster the domestic economy. The senator has also promised that his tax policies will never shift financial burdens from the rich to the middle class.

But in his appearances across the state and on the airwaves, Dole has often focused more on personality than stances on issues.

Dole has too often succumbed to temptation, frequently bashing fellow candidates in campaign ads and painting an ugly picture of himself for voters. Frequent squabbles with Buchanan during the debate further scarred his reputation.

In the final days of touring the Granite State, the Dole campaign again turned away from the issues and urged voters to realize that a vote for any other candidate today is a vote for Clinton.

"Bob Dole has been the co-captain of the Republican team in Washington," said New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill, whose endorsement of the senator made him the early favorite here. "It's time to make him commander-in-chief."

Merrill spoke to about to 700 Dole supporters in a "Get Out the Vote" rally at Exeter Area High School in Exeter Sunday. Here Dole celebrated the endorsements of Gramm, baseball great Ted Williams, and former Deleware gov. Pierre "Pete" DuPont.

Dave D. Dyer, a University of Connecticut graduate student attending the rally, said a Dole presidency that advocates downsizing government and returning some power to the states, would create a government in line with the vision of the Founding Fathers.

"It is not the government's role to shape society," said Dyer.

Others said they do not agree with Dole's stances on all issues but will support him by default in an attempt to remove Clinton.

"There's nobody else," said Ferd B. Ensinger, a resident of Northhampton, N.H. "Alan Keyes ['72] has the best message. If Alan Keyes wrote Dole's speeches, there would be no contest."

But some voters who cheered for Dole at campaign stops across the state Sunday said they could not guarantee they will vote for the Senate majority leader today.

"I would really like to see one primary where nobody is mudslinging," said Valerie Brown, a mother of three attending a crime prevention town meeting in Manchester's West High School.

Brown said she is leaning toward supporting Alexander because only he can defeat Clinton.

The candidate himself emphasized that the ultimate goal of the primary campaign is to select a candidate who is better than Clinton.

"There's one obstacle...one man standing in the way," Dole said at the Gramm endorsement press conference. "When [Clinton] leaves, things are going to get a lot better for America and America's children."

Dole followers are hoping Gramm's endorsement portrays a sense of unity within the GOP that will attract Republican voters who want nothing more than their man in the White House.