Where next? After 3 1/2 days of scouring California for votes, Bob Dole's campaign is making day-by-day decisions about which states to target in this final week.
The Republican presidential challenger addressed the World Affairs Council of Orange County on Tuesday morning.Just 16 hours before his plane was to take off, Dole announced he would travel to Denver before briefly touching base back in Washington. From there, his itinerary was undecided.
"We're going to be working every day," Dole told reporters Monday, even as he acknowledged his own predicament at an Anaheim rally with running mate Jack Kemp. "Anything worth having you work hard for - and you come from behind sometimes," he said.
Capping an extended tour of California, which he has targeted for its top-prize 54 electoral votes, Dole said his campaign's private polls put President Clinton's lead in the state down in the single digits. Most public California surveys have Clinton 10-20 points ahead.
"Looking good. Got new numbers today in our surveys," Dole said. "It can be done."
With polls putting Dole behind Clinton by double-digit margins in most regions of the country, aides joked that picking targets for the candidate's travel through Election Day next Tuesday was like throwing darts.
Among the states on their "maybe" list: Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico and New Jersey. The decisions went straight to the top, with Dole calling the last-minute shots. Clearly preoccupied with California, he was planning an election-eve swing back through the state next week.