Portsmouth Herald
RAN 1/19/96 Pg. A1
By Lars Trodson
Herald Staff
   PORTSMOUTH - Lamar Alexander puts an exclamation point after his first
name on his campaign posters. Lamar! they say.
   But his campaign style is hardly flamboyant. The two-term Republican
governor of Tennessee and the former federal education secretary is trying to
wrest the Republican presidential nomination away from high-profile
candidates such as Bob Dole by quietly 
emphasizing his appeal as a real person with real-life experience.
   His trademark plaid shirt, which Alexander said has been ``viciously
attacked'' in the press, is an effort to separate himself from the
professional politicians.
   During a campaign swing through Portsmouth that had him giving an address
to the Portsmouth Rotary Club; taking a tour of Bottomline Technologies, a
new business in Portsmouth; and talking with the editorial board of the
Portsmouth Herald, Alexander called himself a ``common-sense conservative.''
   He balanced the budget eight times as governor in Tennessee, implemented a
``pay more for teaching well'' program for teachers in his state, and thinks
that Steve Forbes' flat tax ``is a truly nutty idea.''
   During his visit to city, he announced a proposal to transform the federal
government's $20 billion job training program into a voucher system that
would allow the private sector, not the government, to retrain workers.
   ``Millions of Americans are changing jobs every year because of downsizing
and competition in the world marketplace,'' he said. ``Federal job training
programs are too clumsy and bureaucractic. Those are yesterday's answers.''
   Alexander said his program would give high school graduates or people
changing jobs a voucher they could take to a company and say, ``Here, train
me.''
   Dole, the Senate majority leader, is ahead in most polls, and Alexander is
nestled in a tie for third place with Pat Buchanan and Sen. Phil Gramm.
Forbes' poll numbers are rising, but Alexander said he didn't believe the
multimillionaire will be the nominee.
   Alexander hasn't been hammering away at Dole, as Gramm and Forbes have,
but yesterday at Bottomline Technologies, he had an interesting slip of the
tongue.
   ``Bob Dole has been in Washington since 1930,'' said Alexander. When the
realization of what he said hit the audience, the laughter became louder.
Alexander listened for a second, and then said, ``I mean 1960.''
   After that, Alexander's criticisms of Dole became a little more
pronounced.
   During a meeting with the Herald editorial board, Alexander said flat out
that he ``didn't want to spend all my time debating about Bob Dole.''
   But he also said if the presidential contest came down to Dole and
President Clinton, the president ``would run circles around'' the Kansas
senator.
   He also isn't impressed with the talks in Washington about balancing the
budget. Doing so, Alexander said, should be ``as simple as tying your
shoes.''
   Alexander also said the country is in no mood for partisan bickering and
it was his prediction that after the November election, the Congress and
president will be of the same party.
   Alexander said he doesn't think Dole will be the right man to bring the
country into the 21st century, because Dole has no real-life experience.
   Dole's expertise, said Alexander, is getting a bill out of some Senate
subcommittee. ``I think the country is very hungry for something very
different than that,'' he said.
   Alexander also did not lament the fact that so many politicians, such as
Maine's Sen. Bill Cohen, were abandoning Washington. ``With all due
respect,'' he said, ``after two terms they ought to leave.'' He called for a
part-time Congress that ``spends half its time at home.''
   The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 20, and several state caucuses and
primaries are stacked up on one another in the following weeks. Because of
that, Alexander said he felt that ``we'll know who the (Republican) nominee
is by March 12.''