(2 of 3)
"Maybe he's mellowed or let his guard down a little more," says his wife Elizabeth, who is expected to quit her post soon as Red Cross president to join the campaign in a yet to be determined role. "He's tender and loving. That's the man I fell in love with, but I think, somehow, he's willing to let more of that show through now."
On the stump, Dole seems more relaxed than before, more focused with his message of smaller government. The quintessential Washington insider is running on a promise of returning power to the people, through their state and local governments. In the breast pocket of his perpetually crisp white shirts, he keeps an index card on which is printed the 10th Amendment, which reserves for the states all powers not expressly granted the Federal Government. But what really distinguishes him from the rest of the field, Dole told an audience in Nashua, is that "I've been tested in many ways, and I do believe I've been able to provide leadership."
But leadership can be a difficult commodity to sell, particularly if it is a substitute for vision or a euphemism for the consummate pragmatism that has alienated many of the conservative faithful. "Senator Straddle," Bush called him. Still, Dole can show breathtaking resolve when he believes he is right. Of all the battles that he has fought in the Senate, the one that he is proudest of is one he ultimately lost. In 1985 he pulled together a one-vote majority in the Senate to pass a tough budget that included a freeze on Social Security cost of living increases. Had that plan gone through, today's deficit would be significantly smaller. But in the end, Ronald Reagan lacked the nerve to touch the most sacred entitlement. Partly as a result of the budget vote, the G.O.P. lost its Senate majority in the 1986 election.
Dole's major concern is being outflanked. To succeed as majority leader, he will have to forge compromises, but in his rhetoric on issues like affirmative action, Dole maintains a sharp conservative edge. "What he's quite obviously trying to do is stop Phil Gramm from carving out huge differences from Dole on the right," says David Mason, of the Heritage Foundation. And while Gramm can operate on the Senate sidelines, Dole must continually prove himself as a leader. On that score, he suffered a major defeat last week, when he failed to come up with the last vote needed to pass the balanced-budget amendment.
Many Republicans are skeptical that Dole can pull it all off. "It's his nomination to lose--and he probably will," said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent political analyst. Perhaps the biggest question is how well Dole will be able to maintain that new inner peace. Just weeks after pledging in the 1988 campaign to become "a new Bob Dole," the candidate could not restrain himself from telling a New Hampshire heckler to "go back into your cave." So it is understandable that some are not convinced by Dole's latest declarations that he is ready to be "warm, cuddly, fuzzy." Said Gregory Carson, a New Hampshire state legislator: "In 1988 he got very unelectable very quickly. Otherwise, I'd hop right on the Dole bandwagon." Then again, it may not matter. After all, Dole is running in a political environment in which it is only slightly shocking for a Congressman on the House floor to call the President a traitor.