Portsmouth Herald
RAN 2/14/96, Pg. A1
By Steve Haberman 
Herald Staff
   PORTSMOUTH - With the multiple surprises the Iowa caucuses served up
Monday, the New Hampshire primary scheduled for next Tuesday takes on even
more significance than ever before.
   That certainly is true for Texas Sen. Phil Gramm.
   Battered by a defeat in Louisiana last week, a fifth-place finish in Iowa
Monday, and lagging in the New Hampshire polls, Gramm called top supporters
around the country last night and told them he would quit the Republican
presidential race, GOP sources told the Associated Press.
   Gramm planned an announcement today in Washington.
   Several of Gramm's top supporters have urged him to quit the race and
concentrate on his Texas Senate race. 
   Finishing at the bottom of the pack in Iowa (except for California
Congressman Bob Dornan, who did virtually no campaigning in either Iowa or
New Hampshire) was Iowa businessman Morry Taylor. That, however, has not
deterred him, said his New Hampshire campaign scheduler Harriet Cady.
   ``(Taylor) is on a road tour getting the grass roots vote out,'' Cady said
yesterday. She said Taylor will host bowling and ski challenges, as well as
the $5,000 giveaways he planned for five people who answered his
questionnaire, during the coming week.
   Cady said that while Taylor is disappointed in his personal showing in
Iowa and recent New Hampshire polls, he has been encouraged by the fact that
other candidates have picked up his issues of cutting the bureaucracy and
getting back American jobs lost 
overseas. ``He made his point,'' Cady said.
   The Taylor campaign scheduler said that if her candidate does not come in
within the top four or five in New Hampshire he will most probably quit the
race. Taylor took just 1 percent of the vote in Iowa.
   Another candidate who has set a time limit on his presidential bid is
Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar. Jennifer Cutshall, Lugar's New Hampshire press
secretary said that the Indiana senator will re-evaluate his position after
the Yankee primaries involving most of 
the New England states, scheduled for March 5.
   ``The senator said he expects to do well in those primaries,'' Cutshall
said. ``He did well in the Maine straw poll recently.''
   Lugar finished seventh in Iowa with 4 percent of the vote. Cutshall said
that was a good showing based on what the campaign expected.
   ``He sensed he wasn't going to do well in that state,'' she said. ``He's a
little too moderate for that area.''
   Lugar will spend the next week in New Hampshire at ``Ask Dick Lugar''
forums, at which Cutshall said he does very well. ``He needs to respond
directly to people's questions about his tax policy and what he would do as
president.''
   In contrast, radio personality Alan Keyes' campaign officials said their
candidate intends to be in the race for the long haul. ``His commitment is to
go through the whole campaign until the primary,'' said Keyes' New Hampshire
field director Ian Ivey.
   Ivey said there would be no change in Keyes' approach to campaigning as a
result of his sixth place finish in Iowa with 7 percent of the vote.
   ``The best thing we can do is continue to have Keyes' supporters tell
other voters,'' he said. ``We continue to build a strong coalition.''
   Perhaps the biggest surprise of the caucus was New Jersey magazine
publisher Steve Forbes' fourth place finish after spending an estimated $4
million on television advertising before the caucuses. Forbes, however, put a
positive spin on that showing.
   ``Eighteen weeks ago I was an asterisk,'' he said. ``Iowa was a huge
hurdle for us. We got over it, and now we're sprinting to New Hampshire.''
   However, Forbes canceled his one appearance scheduled for yesterday in the
Granite State without comment. According to his press secretary Gretchen
Morganson, Forbes took the opportunity to complete some new television
advertising he will run during the last week of the New Hampshire campaign.
   Asked whether the new ads will target second place Iowa finisher political
commentator Pat Buchanan, Morganson said she did not know. ``All I know is
that they will focus on the truth,'' she said.
   Forbes New Hampshire campaign worker Dave Smith of Nashua downplayed his
candidate's showing in Iowa, saying the magazine publisher never thought he
would do well in that state.
   ``I think Forbes was a little too liberal for Iowa,'' Smith said. ``I
think he'll do well here.''
   Meanwhile Buchanan and third-place finisher former Tennessee Gov. Lamar
Alexander kicked off their New Hampshire campaigns by taking shots at Iowa
winner Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and each other. Each looked forward
to high-level finishes in New Hampshire, as well.
   Buchanan said he ``astonished Dole in Iowa'' by coming in just 3 percent
below the Kansas senator. The political commentator said that this showing,
coupled with a win against Gramm in the Louisiana caucuses and in the Alaska
straw poll, established him ``as the one conservative who can win this
nomination.''
   Meanwhile, Alexander dismissed Buchanan as a contender. ``Pat ran well in
the caucuses, but in the end it's going to be a contest between Bob Dole and
me.''
   The Dole campaign has decided not to take any chances and has scheduled a
full round of public appearances for the senator this week, perhaps
remembering how Dole won Iowa in 1988 by even a larger margin - 37 percent
then compared to 26 percent this year - but lost New Hampshire to incumbent
George Bush.
   This time, however, Dole has Gov. Steve Merrill, Congressman Bill Zeliff
and Sen. Judd Gregg in his corner. Dole aides met nonstop Monday ``making
sure the New Hampshire field organization is ready to roll,'' Zeliff said.
   (The Associated Press contributed to this story.)