Kemp Backs Forbes

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Lamar Alexander and Senator Richard Lugar bowed out of the GOP presidential race, throwing their support behind front- runner Bob Dole. Party leaders had urged the two to drop out of the race in order to help Dole wrap up the nomination quickly. In a news conference announcing his withdrawal, Alexander admitted he was wrong for criticizing Dole as a Washington insider who had no ideas. He said he dropped out when he realized most Republicans wanted Dole to be the candidate to run against President Clinton. "Sen. Dole is the best choice in the Republican race," Alexander said. "In fact he is our only choice." Alexander appeared to have gained momentum following a third-place finish in New Hampshire, but has only garnered 10 delegates thus far. "He could never overcome his low name recognition," TIME's John Dickerson says. "He did well in Iowa and New Hampshire, because he visited those states 80 times. People there got to know him. But he was unable to catch on in the other states." The former Tennessee governor, who had branded himself as the only Republican who could beat Clinton, was unable to beat Dole in any state. His campaign emphasized delegating power to the states, turning welfare programs over to private charities and fighting illegal immigration. Dickerson says Alexander had a difficult time differentiating himself in a crowded field. "He was obliterated by Buchanan and Forbes. It was a race with too many options. He needed to give voters something to hang their hats on, but he couldn't." Alexander said he would not accept an offer to be Dole's vice-president, saying he would not be "a good second fiddle." Dickerson did predict that Alexander would remain on the national scene. Lugar's message, emphasizing foreign policy and a national sales tax, never caught on with voters. The Indiana senator's best result came Tuesday in Vermont where he captured 14 percent of the vote.ALBANY, N.Y.: Jack Kemp endorsed Steve Forbes this afternoon, saying that the publishing heir and flat-tax champion best embodied "progressively conservative" ideals. Kemp compared the GOP today to the splintered party unified more than a century ago by Abraham Lincoln. He added that Forbes' "platform of inclusion" was the most likely to position the party for long-term strength. Kemp tempered his endorsement by stressing that he was not campaigning against Dole, but his announcement will hurt the Kansas senator in tomorrow's New York primary. Kemp, a former New York congressman and HUD secretary, is one of the few prominent Republicans with strong support from both moderate and conservative voters, and had been touted as a possible white knight who could claim the Republican nomination himself if the party arrived at its August convention without a consensus. Today's announcement, along with Dole's victories Tuesday, seem to all but eliminate that possibility. TIME's Michael Duffy reports from Washington that Kemp's announcement, coming a day after Dole swept all eight Junior Tuesday primaries, has pundits shaking their heads. Says Duffy: "Jack Kemp's extreme sense of bad timing lives on." In an interview with CNN, Kemp said he was prompted into the fray after the Dole campaign began attacking Forbes' economic proposals, which Kemp said were very close to Dole's own.Congress Passes Helms-Burton