Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: GOP works toward united front in '96 Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 14:59:57 EST Message-ID: \SE A \HD GOP works toward united front in '96 \SH Quayle seeks high-visibility job for next 4 years \BY Paul Bedard \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES He's hardly flipping through the want ads, but Vice President Dan Quayle is looking for a new line of work that will meet one key requirement: launch him into the 1996 presidential race. Mr. Quayle, who was hurt the most by last week's Republican loss to Bill Clinton and Al Gore, is losing the stage he used to push his conservative cause and searching for a replacement that will keep him in the public eye. "Without it he's doomed," a Quayle adviser said. But Mr. Quayle feels confident that he has refurbished his image - sullied in the harsh 1988 campaign - by giving a much-heralded Republican National Convention speech, performing aggressively in the vice presidential debate and making a more spirited showing on the campaign trail than President Bush himself, according to associates. And now Mr. Quayle and his top aides consider him the leading contender for the GOP nomination in 1996. "I have always stood up for what I believe in and I will continue to stand up and to speak for what I believe in," Mr. Quayle said on election night as a loud crowd in downtown Indianapolis displayed "Quayle in '96" campaign buttons. "We have made a difference and will continue to make a difference," he said. While he is still stunned by last Tuesday's defeat, aides and advisers are pressing Mr. Quayle to consider these options: * Take over a prominent think tank, such as the Indianapolis-based Hudson Institute. From that perch, he could influence Washington policy and politics and travel between Washington and his home state of Indiana. * Join or start a Washington-Indianapolis law firm. Mr. Quayle and his wife, Marilyn, also a lawyer, could use the firm to influence Republican politics much the same way former Vice President Walter Mondale did with the Democratic Party. * Take a job as executive vice president of his family's publishing company, Central Newspapers Inc., and buy media outlets that will spread the Quayle conservative message. * Move into the Republican National Committee as chairman, replacing Rich Bond. GOP sources said Mr. Quayle must consider those options and others as he grapples with the early stages of running for president in 1996 against other Republican aspirants, such as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas. Mr. Quayle isn't discussing details of his future, however, except to note that his high-school-age children may want to stay in the Washington area until they complete the school year. Mr. Quayle told an interviewer last week that his two children still living at home - Corrine and Benjamin - are at "very, very sensitive ages . . . and I've got to consider their interests." But he added: "I think Marilyn and I would just as soon return to Indiana as soon as possible. . . . I'm going to have to sort of pick up the pieces, as they say - move on. You know, look, there's life after public service." At two staff meetings last week, the Quayles gave a message of hope and optimism to their workers, although that theme was stunted by the somberness of the defeat and tears shed by Mrs. Quayle. The early betting is on Mr. Quayle's shifting to head a think tank, aides and associates said. "It makes logical sense," said an associate, who requested anonymity. From the Hudson Institute, for example, Mr. Quayle could focus on public policy and push his conservative agenda. Former Bush and Reagan administration official William Bennett and former Reagan political director Mitchell Daniels have followed that path. In addition, because the Hudson Institute is based in Indiana, Mr. Quayle could return to his home base, which would give his 1996 candidacy more credibility and link the former Indiana senator to his Midwestern roots. But aides, such as Mr. Daniels, now an executive with Eli Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis, said the vice president should "examine some options outside of politics." Mr. Daniels, a member of Mr. Quayle's brain trust, said it would be difficult for anyone to begin immediately running for 1996. Instead, Mr. Daniels is advising Mr. Quayle to join his family's newspaper business and help build a media empire to "continue his war with the media elite," an associate said. Before the election, Quayle advisers had considered pushing the vice president into the chairmanship of the Republican Party. They said Mr. Quayle could use the job to expand his base around the nation and continue raising money for the party. But associates say now that Mr. Quayle isn't gunning for the job and may back efforts to install his former political aide Spencer Abraham as chairman. No matter what path he chooses, said aides and advisers, Mr. Quayle wants to stay in the public eye and press issues that he feels will help his bid in 1996. Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, said Mr. Quayle deserves to be considered the 1996 front-runner, but to stay there "he certainly can't just fade away. . . . He's got to do something to stay out there." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM