Campaign Notebook

Monday’s campaign developments:

Presidential race

Lamar Alexander said in Denver that the focus of his presidential campaign is to “expect less of Washington and ask more of ourselves.” He was in Colorado in anticipation of the state’s March 5 presidential primary.

While he is from the South, Alexander said he understands the West. He said he would preserve the environment while leaving land-management decisions to local governments and ranchers.

“The EPA should stop dictating to cities and companies” the kind of federal regulation and technologies we need, he said.

Pat Buchanan said it would be wrong for the Supreme Court to outlaw abortion. Buchanan, an ardent abortion opponent, said in a speech in Washington that years of liberal judicial activism have usurped power from the majority and “centralized control over virtually every moral, political, social, and economic issue in this country.”

He said conservative activism by the Supreme Court also would have been wrong.

“I personally believe in a constitutional amendment that would outlaw abortion,” he said “We cannot order it from the Supreme Court.”

Phil Gramm questioned Forbes’ conservative credentials, saying in Manchester, N.H., that the multimillionaire “looks more like Nelson Rockefeller than like Ronald Reagan.” Gramm said Forbes, in editorials published in his magazine, supported eliminating the ban on gays in the military and pushed the 1976 campaign of Gerald Ford over Reagan.

Senate races

Oregon. Democrat Ron Wyden offered to use four-wheel-drive vehicles to deliver ballots and Republican Gordon Smith visited pancake restaurants Monday as the U.S. Senate campaign drew to a close.

County elections officials prepared to begin ripping open ballots today to determine which of the two will replace Bob Packwood, who resigned from the Senate last fall in the wake of a sex scandal.

Oregonians have until 8 p.m. today to get their ballots to local elections offices if they want their votes to be counted in the nation’s first vote-by-mail congressional election.

Montana. Sen. Max Baucus filed for a fourth term Monday and asked voters for another six years to act as a check on the “extremism” and “revolutionary experiments” of a Republican-controlled Congress.

The 54-year-old Democrat is the first to officially enter the race.

Lt. Gov. Dennis Rehberg is the only announced Republican challenger, although former California businessman Ed Borcherdt has said he will decide soon.

Becky Shaw of Clancy, last in the 1994 three-way Democratic primary for the other Senate seat held by Republican Conrad Burns, is considering an independent campaign.

News of note

The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates chose St. Louis, San Diego and St. Petersburg, Fla., as the sites for three presidential debates this fall. Hartford, Conn., was chosen for the vice-presidential debate.

Retiring Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., said he might run for president “some day.” But for now, he is on a monthlong national tour to plug his book, “Time Present, Time Past.”

Upcoming on TV

Forbes on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” Wednesday, 6 p.m.

Today’s stops

Alexander: Burlingame, Calif.; Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Buchanan: Waterloo, Iowa.

Dole: Des Moines, Iowa; Burlington, Iowa.

Forbes: Derry, N.H.; Windham, N.H.

Gramm: Wilmington, Del.; Washington, D.C.

Lugar: Des Moines.