RAN 10/24 Rivals: Dole is welcome to Wilson endorsement By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Telegraph Staff
CONCORD -- Rival campaigns were not impressed with Pete Wilson's endorsement of Bob Dole on Monday. Patrick Griffin, a media consultant for former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, said the decision is little more than a deal cut to help Wilson erase a $1.5 million debt from his failed White House bid. "This is the kind of deal that pols cut with one another, so basically Dole has agreed to help Wilson retire the debt from a do-nothing presidential campaign," Griffin said. "That doesn't translate into anything more than just another day in the club of current and former U.S. senators." New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, a national co-chairman for Sen. Phil Gramm's campaign, said Wilson doesn't offer anything. "Governor Wilson went nowhere in the presidential campaign. He got into the race, broke a promise to the people of his state, got zero support in New Hampshire," Smith told New Hampshire reporters during a telephone news conference. "I don't see any major significance to the endorsement. I think it's a non-story, it's a non-event." Smith said Wilson's backing of abortion rights, gay rights and past support for affirmative action won't help Dole sell his case to the most important block of primary voters, ideological conservatives. "If Senator Dole is trying to run as a conservative I think it may hurt him to have the support of moderate Republicans like Pete Wilson," Smith said. The comments from the Gramm campaign drew criticism from Dole press secretary Nelson Warfield, who accused Gramm of allowing campaigning to interfere with his Senate responsibilities. "Maybe Senator Gramm will have time today to answer the question: Where was Phil? He might even have time to add up the number of missed votes he has had since he started putting his campaign ahead of his duties in the Senate," Warfield said. Republican State Chairman John Stabile of Nashua said the Wilson endorsement was no surprise to him. "There had been reports many of Wilson's people nationally had already gone to Dole," Stabile said. But State Rep. Franklin Torr, R-Dover, said Wilson's exit from the race less than a month ago will hurt the endorsement's credibility. "New Hampshire primary voters don't like insider deals even if they don't exist, they don't like things that smell like one," said Torr, who is supporting Alexander. House Finance Committee Chairman Channing Brown, R-Lebanon, a Dole supporter, said he was quite surprised at the news. Brown said Wilson will be hosting the Republican national convention in San Diego and his endorsement can only help Dole. But Griffin, of the Alexander campaign, said such talk is not only premature but meaningless. "Bob Dole is in no position right now to sell tickets," Griffin said. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Telegraph The daily newspaper of Nashua and P.O. Box 1008 southern New Hampshire since 1869 Nashua, NH 03061 voice: (603) 882-2741 fax: (603) 882-2681