With his 20th consecutive primary victory in hand, Bob Dole says the Republicans have anointed him "the conservative they want in the White House." His surge through Super Tuesday sets up a unique battle for the presidency between two powerful office-holders.
Flat-tax advocate Steve Forbes appeared ready to give up in the face of his winless showing, but Wednesday he insisted he would stick it out and hope for a boost in the Midwest primaries next Tuesday.Dole's other message-driven opponent, Pat Buchanan, says he will fight it out to the finish and isn't "looking for any deal" with Dole in exchange for stepping aside.
"Why give up a battle of ideas simply because you're behind in delegates?" Buchanan asked on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday. "Bob Dole has no ideas, no agenda, no vision."
Buchanan promised a GOP national convention war this summer if Dole picks a pro-choice running mate, particularly retired Gen. Colin Powell who polls show could help Dole beat President Clinton.
"Why should conservatives support a vice presidential nominee who is strongly pro-abortion, who believes in affirmative action, who declares himself a Rockefeller Republican," Buchanan said. "If Bob Dole sets it on a course to go back to Rockefeller Republicanism, he's going to have a battle at that convention."
Dole, for his part, has started doing what assumed nominees do - make it easier for lingering rivals to give up the battle by promising to heed their messages and their constituencies.
"We've listened and we've heard strong messages," the Senate majority leader said in an interview, acknowledging Forbes' theme of economic growth and Buchanan's concern for the economic anxiety of working Americans.
"It is time to come together now and put our ideas together and build a strong agenda for November," Dole said. His rivals' withdrawals would take from the airwaves a stream of anti-Dole messages and unite the party behind him.
With complete results from the seven Super Tuesday states - Texas, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi - Dole won solid majorities in all except Louisiana, where his margin was 47 percent to Buchanan's 33 percent and Forbes' 13 percent. Dole won by 57 percent in Florida, a battleground state in the fall.
Forbes finished third or worse everywhere but Florida, where he won 20 percent to Buchanan's 18 percent. In Tennessee, Forbes even trailed former Gov. Lamar Alexander, who dropped out of the race last week. The millionaire publisher said failure to produce a strong showing in the Midwest on Tuesday would mean "this campaign is over."
"If we don't have a win or something closely akin to a win, time is running out . . . that's obvious," Forbes said Tuesday night.
The next round of primaries occurs Tuesday in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Dole is expected to clinch the nomination in California's winner-take-all primary on March 26.
Exit polls showed Dole relatively weak among Republicans who had voted for independent Ross Perot in 1992. Many expressed unhappiness with the Republican field.
Tennessee voter Joan Garland supported Dole but without much enthusiasm. "When you see the others, really what choice do you have?," she asked. Her husband, Ralph, said he would vote for Clinton in November.
Clinton is the first Democratic incumbent not to face an intra-party challenge since Lyndon Johnson, who inherited his office from the fallen John F. Kennedy, then was nominated in his own right in 1964.
Dole's strategy is to send Clinton a stream of Republican bills - on Medicare, welfare reform, regulatory reform, perhaps another balanced budget - that would give substance to his claim that Clinton is a talker while Dole is a "doer."
With Dole virtually certain of the nomination, the fall battle begins at once. What makes it unusual is that both the incumbent and his challenger have the power to use the machinery of government to affect their political fortunes. Challengers to presidents are usually outsiders - critics, not officeholders.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Primary results
Bob Dole swept Tuesday's primaries, including four states where the winner takes all delegates.
The Vote FL LA MS OK OR TN TX
% of precincts reporting 94% 97% 99% 99% 83% 96% 52%
Dole 57% 47% 61% 59% 51% 51% 56%
Alexander 2 2 2 1 8 12 3
Buchanan 18 33 26 22 22 25 21
Forbes 20 13 8 14 13 8 12
Keyes 2 3 2 2 3 3 3
Delegates 98 9 33 38 12 36 109
for the of of of of of of of
winner: 98 30* 33 38 23 38 123
*Louisiana's other 21 delegates were awarded in last month's caucus.