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Subject: Bush's Loss Moves 'Unshackled' Dole to Center Stage Among Republicans<By Helen
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 92 09:22:42 EST
Message-ID: <24.1992Nov8.092243@AmeriCast.com>

Bush's Loss Moves 'Unshackled' Dole to Center Stage Among
Republicans<By Helen Dewar=Washington Post Staff Writer=

Some were elated by last Tuesday's elections; others were
depressed. Senate Republican leader Robert J. Dole (Kan.) was li-
berated.

"Let's face it, sometimes when you carry the administration's wa-
ter, it's a pretty heavy bucket," he said in an interview Friday.
"Other times, it was a light bucket. But, now, suddenly you're a
free spirit, a free agent, you've been unshackled."

For four years after then-Vice President Bush buried Dole's
presidential ambitions in New Hampshire, the normally acerbic
Dole bit his lip, hid any hard feelings and demonstrated extraor-
dinary loyalty in pushing the legislative program of his former
rival.

But now, with Bush having been denied a second term by Democrat
Bill Clinton, an unfettered Dole has moved to occupy the center
of the Republican stage.

He continues to defend Bush and express regret at the president's
defeat but does not hide his exhilaration about the challenges -
and opportunities - Dole faces in a new role as the most prom-
inent Republican who will still be in office here after Inaugura-
tion Day, Jan. 20.

Speaking of the election, Dole said: "It's unfortunate, but
that's politics. Having said that, I can't change any of that, I
am sort of looking forward to a little different opportunity, I
guess."

From his perch as Senate minority leader, Dole warned President-
elect Clinton to think twice about ignoring him and other Repub-
licans on Capitol Hill but also sent a clear message that he
would welcome an early get-together between Clinton and congres-
sional Republicans - a political "welcome wagon," he called it -
with the idea of cooperating on legislation.

"Everyone wants to get the new president off to a good start,"
Dole said, putting aside some of the sharper barbs he used in in-
terviews immediately after the election, which caused some heart-
burn among Republicans as well as Democrats.

Dole's zest contrasts starkly with his dispirited mood only a
year ago when friends said he had serious doubts about seeking
election to a fifth term.

Not only did he realize he probably would never be president,
they said, but even his hope of again becoming majority leader,
the post he held during 1985 and 1986, crumbled when it became
clear that Republicans would not regain control of the Senate
this year.

But Dole ran again and won by a huge margin, even while campaign-
ing in 30 other states for GOP Senate candidates. By the early
hours of Nov. 4, he was all over the airwaves with the kind of
one-liners, zingers, put-downs and trenchant observations he had
suppressed for four years.

It is as though, at age 69 and in apparent good health after pro-
state surgery, he has found a "new meaning in life," which could
encompass everything from zest for combat with Clinton to another
bid for the GOP presidential nomination, a Republican colleague
observed.

Others thought it boiled down instead to a kind of poetic jus-
tice: Bush was impaled this year on the same issue of tax in-
creases that he used against Dole in 1988 when he warned that
Dole would raise taxes, just as Bush eventually did in signing
the 1990 tax bill.

"Ah, the sweet smell of revenge," observed Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan (D-N.Y.) when asked why Dole seemed to have such a
post-election bounce in his step.

Dole had only kind words for Bush to the end, insisting that the
defeated president was "a decent man, a man of total integrity"
who was victimized by the economy and by news media characteriza-
tions of it. But his thoughts were clearly on a post-Bush future.

In Wednesday appearances on all major television networks, at a
Capitol Hill news conference and on CNN's "Larry King Live"
call-in show, followed by countless other interviews, Dole:Said
he was seeking reelection by his Republican colleagues as minori-
ty leader to serve as "watchdog (for) the 57 percent who did not
vote for Bill Clinton" and to use powers available to him in that
post to oppose "bad policy" when the need arises.

Claimed a "mandate" every bit as big as Clinton got because
Republicans have 42 or 43 seats in the Senate, which is roughly
the proportion of the popular vote that Clinton won. "If he has a
mandate, then I must have a mandate," Dole said with a straight
face.

Refused to close the door to another presidential bid, first say-
ing he would "probably not" run again, then adding that "you nev-
er close your options" and then finally observing that he rather
likes to win.  Hinted that he intends to take a major role in re-
building the GOP by attempting to broaden its base and focusing
on "traditional" Republican fiscal policy, meaning emphasis on
deficit reduction. He also revived his joke about supply-side
Republican tax-cutters ("the good news was a bus-load of supply-
siders went over the cliff; the bad news was there were three
empty seats").

Put out overtures to independent presidential candidate Ross
Perot and his supporters, saying he wants to find some way to
"harness all of the energy he's been able to mobilize in an ef-
fort to reduce the deficit."

Made it clear that he intends to demand the same kind of
"thoroughness" in examining Clinton administration nominees as
the Democrats did in screening Bush appointees and served notice
that he would not hesitate to initiate filibusters when the need
arises.

But also said he was ready to "cooperate with him (Clinton) when
he can't get Democratic support," suggesting - undoubtedly with
some mischief in mind - that Republicans would back him in pass-
ing legislation to give the president the right to veto specific
items in appropriations bills, which most Democratic lawmakers
oppose.

"Of course, we may want to 'sunset' the legislation" by putting
in an expiration date just in case Clinton uses the power in ways
they did not have in mind, he added.

The power of Dole and his Senate Republican troops may seem to
have been diminished when voters reestablished one-party govern-
ment in Washington last Tuesday. But Democratic elation may not
survive the first cloture vote in the Senate next year.

By retaining more than the 41 votes necessary to defeat cloture
motions aimed at ending filibusters, the Republicans - who will
have 42 or 43 seats depending on the outcome of a Georgia runoff
Nov. 24 - have kept one of the most important levers of minority
party power in the government.

In alternately stressing his desire to cooperate with the new ad-
ministration and his power to trip it up, Dole seemed to be rel-
ishing his options, which were constricted while he served as the
Republican president's man in the Senate. Dole likes options: His
ability to create and exploit them is part of his prowess in the
Senate.

For instance, Dole indicated he might consider an economic
stimulus program that would increase the deficit over the short
run, so long as it was wedded firmly to a long-term deficit
reduction plan. If it is not, Dole indicated, forget it.

Meanwhile, Dole has an eye cocked on the 1994 senatorial elec-
tions, when Democrats again will have far more seats at risk than
the Republicans. And, he said with a wide grin, "It's always
easier to run against the White House."<02:26 11-08C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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