IOWA: HOW DOLE COULD STUMBLE

HIS LEADERSHIP WINS POINTS IN WASHINGTON, BUT HIS AGE AND A WEAK CAMPAIGN STAFF SPELL TROUBLE IN IOWA

WHEN HE LAST RAN FOR PRESIDENT, in 1988, Bob Dole visited Le Mars, Iowa, and bombed miserably. At Westmar University, a Methodist school where dancing on campus wasn't allowed until 1968, Dole was arrogant and condescending. A well-meaning student asked what Dole's war experience had taught him about avoiding a nuclear conflict. "The one has nothing to do with the other," Dole snapped, before adding in a mumbled tirade, "What do 18-year-olds know anyhow?"

Dole carried Le Mars anyway--few in Iowa cared for George Bush that year--but the ambivalence rages on. Many in the town say they'll support Dole again in...

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