Word: dole
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...last telephone conversation between Bob Dole and Colin Powell had all the romance of a bad blind date. Ending months of silence between the men, Powell telephoned to congratulate the Kansas Senator in early April after Dole clinched the G.O.P. nomination. By careful arrangement, Dole had been warned to simply say thanks and under no circumstances mention the vice presidency. Dole obeyed the ground rules but asked the retired general, "Can I call you for advice on foreign policy now and then?" Sure, said Powell, anytime. And then he hung up. The whole thing lasted less than a minute...
Things went downhill from there. To prevent the Dole team from portraying the call as any kind of endorsement, Powell immediately leaked the sum of it to a reporter. That clever move annoyed folks at Dole headquarters, who felt snubbed (and, they admit, unable to put a more positive spin on the exchange). The whole episode left such a bad taste in Dole's mouth that when nervous G.O.P. fund raisers, sounding a bit like anxious parents, recently asked Dole how things were going with Powell, the candidate said he'd prefer not to talk about...
Powell has always had reservations about a campaign by himself or at Dole's side. But now that Dole trails Clinton by a dozen points--last week's TIME/CNN poll showed Dole with 38% of voters, vs. Clinton with 50%--even the eager cadre of Republicans who have been preening for the job have begun to issue declarations of independence, almost as if they don't want the job at all. Last week a confused Dole official hunted for a positive explanation. "It's like they want to prove they're all thumbs so they won't upstage...
...change in behavior comes only a few weeks after Governors from nearly a dozen states were tripping over themselves to get Dole's attention. An adviser to George Voinovich put together a 12-minute videotape touting the Ohio Governor and sent a copy of it to Dole. Governor John Engler of Michigan used his job as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association to flood Washington with press releases of his own ("RGA Chairman Governor John Engler Praises Dole for Taking On Judicial Activism"). Governor Pete Wilson of California slipped into Washington for dinners with columnists...
...with his teeth. Coffey went to the Lipstik with a bottle of champagne because he was depressed after a devastating defeat in a high-profile drug case, reports the paper, but he denies ever biting the dancer while there. The federal prosecutor is a Clinton administration appointee and Dole campaign aides suggested today that the incident could be used in Florida during the election. Over the last month, Dole has repeatedly attacked federal judgeships but recently has begun to attack prosecutors as well, targeting Clinton appointees in Arizona and California. Meanwhile, Coffey's accuser has remained unnamed. The Herald reports...