>  Portsmouth Herald
>  FORBES LAYS OUT PRIMARY PRIORITIES
>  By Lars Trodson, Herald Staff, 12/8/95
>    
     PORTSMOUTH - Steve Forbes is going to build his presidential bid one 
vote at a time.
>    Forbes entered the race late and has a campaign staff in just six states.
> But he said he will eschew a large campaign staff and talk one on one with
> voters. In that way, he will not only win the Republican nomination for
> president, but beat Bill Clinton in the fall, he said.
>    During an interview with the Herald's editorial board yesterday morning,
> Forbes described himself as a political outsider with vast experience both in
> finance and foreign policy.
>    Although sounding familiar campaign themes - Forbes called the welfare
> system a ``disaster'' - and calling for a federal bureaucracy that ``does
> more with less,'' Forbes said he differs from the other Republican candidates
> in two respects.
>    This is a campaign season rife with candidates charging one another with
> abandoning their core principles in order to pander to specific political
> groups such as the Christian Coalition. Forbes said he isn't doing that.
>    ``I mean what I say,'' said Forbes. ``And I think voters sense that.''
>    He also called the present field of Republican candidates purveyors of
> pessimism. ``My whole approach, and one of the reasons I've kept up my
> momentum, is that I'm very forward-looking.''
>    He denied he plans to attack Dole in future ads, but did mention that Dole
> has voted to raise taxes more than a dozen times in the past 15 years, and
> added that Phil Gramm helped engineer George Bush's tax increase in 1990.
>    Forbes has been touting a ``flat tax'' on income - an idea that appeals to
> voters. Yesterday, he provided a wider range of reforms and articulated his
> stance on a variety of issues.
>    He said he has more foreign policy experience than any of the other
> candidates, except Sen. Richard Lugar. Forbes said he has travelled
> extensively, met with heads of state, ``and I know intimately the Soviet
> Union and the problems in Central Europe.'' 
> Forbes said the $20 billion bailout of Mexico, precipitated by the
> devaluation of the peso, would never have happened in his administration.
>    Forbes said he supports the North American Free Trade Agreement, but said
> the country ``has not lived up to its spirit'' of making it easier for other
> countries to export goods.
>    He is opposed to abortion and said he would ``like to create an
> environment where abortions disappear.''
>    As far as gun control, Forbes said he supports innovative technology that
> will make it easier to keep guns out of the hands of people ``that shouldn't
> have guns'' through quicker background checks.
>    Forbes advocates revisiting the national ``Just Say No'' campaign to curb
> drug use. He also supports a ``moment of silence'' in schools as an
> alternative to school prayer.
>    He will be campaigning hard in New Hampshire for the next few weeks.
> Forbes said he thinks he will ``make a credible showing'' in New Hampshire.