THe Boston Globe
Dole contrasts skills with Clinton's: In N.H., Kansan promotes ability `to get
> things done'
By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff, 12/12/95
>        
>        MANCHESTER, N.H. - Bob Dole's first advertisement of the campaign
>        season, debuting in New Hampshire this week, begins with a
>        presidential inauguration - Bill Clinton's inauguration.
>        
>        And it offers an agenda - Bill Clinton's agenda. It is the agenda
>        Clinton articulated in 1992, when the then-governor of Arkansas
>        made a balanced-budget plan and middle-class tax cut staples of
>        his campaign. The ad says Clinton's unfulfilled promises are the
>        priorities of Senate Majority Leader Dole.
>        
>        With the ad, Dole seems to be establishing a pattern that could be
>        sustained for the duration of his campaign: Dole presenting
>        himself less as Clinton's opposite than as his better - a more
>        seasoned, skillful leader who can achieve goals that are, by now,
>        matters of national consensus.
>        
>        Asked at a campaign stop if he meant to portray his differences
>        with Clinton more in terms of style than of priorities, Dole said,
>        ``My style is to get things done.''
>        
>        Then, after a moment's reflection, he added, ``Gosh, I hope not.
>        If I thought my priorities were the same as his, I'd drop out
>        right now.''
>        
>        Nonetheless, earlier in the day, Dole had sounded the same theme
>        of correcting and improving on Clinton's policy, but not
>        necessarily changing direction, in discussing his support for the
>        president's commitment of troops to Bosnia.
>        
>        Dole argued that no troop movement would have been necessary had
>        Clinton lifted the arms embargo on the Bosnian army two years ago,
>        as Dole had wanted, and as Clinton himself had favored in the 1992
>        campaign. Now, Dole said, he will work on making sure Clinton
>        develops an ``exit strategy.''
>        
>        For some of his Republican challengers, Dole is far too
>        accommodating. Sen. Phil Gramm and commentator Patrick Buchanan
>        are among those who strongly oppose sending US troops to Bosnia.
>        
>        Dole said his critics are ``taking the easy way out'' on Bosnia.
>        
>        Gramm's and Buchanan's criticisms don't end with Bosnia. They
>        portray Dole as an echo of Clinton on a range of issues. Buchanan
>        refers to current US policy as ``Clinton-Dole,'' as if Dole had
>        somehow replaced Vice President Al Gore.
>        
>        ``In 1980, Bob Dole didn't win the Republican nomination because
>        he was too moderate,'' said Gramm spokesman Gary Koops. ``In 1988,
>        he lost New Hampshire because George Bush persuaded voters that
>        Dole was committed to tax and spend. Now you have a more
>        conservative electorate and Dole says he's the conservative in the
>        race. It stretches credibility.''
>        
>        At a house party in Manchester last Saturday, Dole, wearing a
>        cardigan and speaking in a relaxed manner, outlined the
>        differences between himself and Clinton: ``I think my record on
>        being caring and compassionate is as good as President Clinton's
>        on the Americans with Disabilities Act, ... school lunches, on
>        Medicare and Medicaid. The difference is we want to leave
>        something for these folks down here'' - as he pointed to a few
>        children clustered under a Christmas tree - ``and we're not
>        spendthrifts. That's the difference.''
>        
>        When asked how any president could successfully manage both
>        domestic needs and crises abroad, Dole made it clear he is not
>        overawed by the presidency. Dole, who was the Republican vice
>        presidential nominee in 1976 and first sought the top job 15 years
>        ago, readily assumed the posture of a seasoned veteran scoring
>        Clinton for rookie mistakes.
>        
>        ``First of all, you don't put a sign up that says, `It's the
>        economy, stupid,''' Dole said. ``Bill Clinton's finding out
>        foreign policy is important - he's finding it out in Bosnia, with
>        his imperfect solution in Haiti, in Somalia.''
>        
>        He added, with a grin, ``I almost think it's easier to be
>        president than majority leader. I have 52 other egos to contend
>        with. I'm the fifty-third ego.''
>        
>        The voters who crowded the house party seemed comfortable with the
>        idea that Dole would be a simple upgrade of Clinton - a Chrysler
>        to Clinton's Dodge.
>        
>        Dave Nixon, a Democrat and former New Hampshire Senate president,
>        said Dole is the only Republican hopeful who would tempt him to
>        abandon his party's nominee.
>        
>        Nixon, himself a wounded veteran, said he admires Dole's
>        character. And he feels Dole, like Clinton, would be an effective
>        buffer to House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
>        
>        ``Dole's basically a moderate, reasonable person with
>        compassionate instincts, and so's Clinton,'' said Nixon.
>        ``Obviously Dole, whether he strongly believes it or not, has got
>        to go along with the some of the Contract with America. I think
>        it's against his grain to go along with much of it, though.''
>        
>        This story ran on page 22 of the Boston Globe on 12/12/95.