Richard Wirthlin, the former Utahn who was President Reagan's pollster, probably shouldn't ask Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., for a letter of recommendation.
According to the Washington Post, Dole told the Republican National Committee recently that he can't forget that on the eve of last year's New Hampshire primary, he was told by Wirthlin that he would defeat George Bush and likely win the Republican presidential nomination.He sees Wirthlin's erroneous prediction as a possible explanation for former Vice President Walter Mondale's decision not to run for the Senate next year, even though one poll showed him leading Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, R-Minn., by 11 percentage points.
"He may have had my pollster, come to think of it," Dole said to laughter. "Whatever happened to that guy?"
Wirthlin's polling firm, The Wirthlin Group in McLean, Va., is still running a lucrative business - now handling polling mostly for business clients.