Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said Sunday he could benefit if Colin Powell seeks the GOP presidential nomination because conservatives would unite behind him as a single alternative.
"One thing about the Powell candidacy is it would certainly drive the conservatives toward one candidate," the Kansas senator said. "You can't have three or four horses in the race when you've got somebody else jumping in. My view is that would be helpful to me."Questioned about the impact of a Powell candidacy after a campaign stop, Dole said it would turn the race into a two-person fight.
"If he gets in, it's going to be like it is now in the polls - Powell's ahead of Dole or Dole's ahead of Powell," said the Kansas Republican. "I assume there would be a lot of focus on the two of us."
Meanwhile, Dole's wife, Elizabeth, told USA Today she is taking a one-year, unpaid leave from her $200,000 post as president of the American Red Cross to help her husband's run for president.
But she said he intends to reclaim her job if Dole is elected president and become the first lady to work full-time outside the White House.
"You want to make certain you can do both roles and I'm very confident I can," she told the paper Sunday. "They just fit nicely. I do feel passionately about what I'm doing. It gives you and opportunity to give back. . . . I'd be a full-time first lady with a full-time job at the Red Cross."
Meanwhile, a national poll released Saturday was clearly on many Republicans' and Democrats' minds.
The CBS News-New York Times poll found that if Powell entered the race, he would cut deeply into Dole's support and could become the immediate front-runner.
And if he won the GOP nomination, Powell would be favored over President Clinton by 50 percent of those polled, with 38 percent preferring Clinton, the poll found.
In contrast, Clinton would lead in a two-way race if Dole were his opponent, by 49 percent to 43 percent, the poll indicated.
New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill, on "Face the Nation," called the poll results surprising and said he will look closely at Powell if he enters the race.