RAN 10/31 By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Telegraph Staff
Wealthy magazine publisher Malcolm "Steve" Forbes emerged as a major surprise in a statewide poll released by WMUR-TV on Monday night. For the first time in a New Hampshire survey, Forbes' name appeared second behind Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., with 10 percent -- though the 4 percent margin of error puts him in a statistical dead heat with conservative commentator Pat rick Buchanan (9 percent), former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander (6 percent) and U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas (6 percent). The survey of more than 400 likely Republican primary voters in the state also found Dole would drop to second if retired Gen. Colin Powell were added to the field of announced candidates. Without Powell, Dole not only leads the field, but his 37 percent support was 2 points higher than what he had in a similar WMUR-TV poll at the beginning of October. The telephone survey was conducted Oct. 2-25 by Dartmouth College's Nelson A. Rockefeller Center. Forbes said in a statement Monday that the poll was good news along with a national survey conducted by CBS-TV and The New York Times that placed his candidacy second in a net favorable rating of all the GOP candidates behind Dole. "These polls show that after only five weeks in the race, Steve Forbes is rapidly gaining support while other candidates who have been in the race either officially for months, or unofficially for years, are either losing ground or making no progress," Forbes said. The Forbes campaign unveiled a new ad on his flat tax that uses the voice of Democratic President Bill Clinton, who two weeks ago told a group of businessmen in Houston that it had been a mistake to increase taxes as much as he supported back in 1993. Clinton has since taken back the remark, claiming he meant to say that both Democrats and Republicans should increase taxes only as a last resort to eliminate the federal deficit. Gramm said the Forbes' support is solely a reflection of massive campaign advertising by the new candidate, who has said he will not abide by spending limits imposed on those who accept federal matching money in a presidential election. "We could goose our numbers in a poll any time we wanted to, but the only one poll that counts is the one on primary day, Gramm said. As for the Powell candidacy, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff kept roughly the same amount of support as he had in the last WMUR-TV poll three weeks ago. Meanwhile, Dole came up by 4 percentage points during the same period, more than any other candidate. Gramm said Powell's backing in polls is meaningless because that popularity will evaporate once he enters the race. "It's like a blind date I had back in college," he said. "I was all excited about it, she was excited about it as well, but the moment she opened the door, we both said to one another, `Boy, was this a mistake.' " - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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