Citizen Dole Finds Life More Fun With Quips, Not Quorums He’s Busier, More Popular Outside Of Politics

As Bob Dole has discovered, being a former politician has its rewards.

“I’ve discovered that once you get out of politics, you’re much more popular. Your numbers go up,” quipped the longtime Kansas Republican senator.

In the year since his defeat in the 1996 presidential election, the 74-year-old Dole hasn’t slowed down a whit. Now a private citizen, Dole is throwing his energies into a hundred other duties - bringing in new clients for his Washington law firm, public speaking, charitable appeals, serving on national commissions, traveling overseas, partisan politicking, and even starring in an occasional TV commercial.

Just before Christmas, he and his wife, Elizabeth, joined President Clinton in traveling to Bosnia, to give a bipartisan thank you to the U.S. troops serving there.

And as the new year begins, Dole is launching a sentimental journey through the small towns and civic groups of his native Kansas. It’s designed to say “thanks to people for 35 years of hanging in there,” Dole explained.

“We’re just going to go around the state, and if anyone shows up, we’ll sit there and drink coffee, have a homemade cookie, just like the good old days,” he said during a recent interview in his new law firm.

One question he’s certain to be asked: Do you miss Congress, after 27 years in the Senate, and another eight in the House of Representatives?

“My wife said, don’t you miss it up there? And I say, ‘Oh, I watch C-SPAN, I see all these quorum calls, I see all this excitement,”’ Dole said with his characteristic irony.

“That part I don’t miss.”

For 35 years, Dole played increasingly key roles in America’s great national debates, sometimes in support, sometimes in opposition: the battles over Vietnam and Watergate, the movements for civil rights and women’s equality, the rise of liberalism in the ‘60s and conservatism in the ‘80s, the fall of communism and the rise of the global economy.

He served longer as Senate Republican leader than anyone else in history. He ran three times for president, including in 1996, when he won the Republican nomination but ultimately lost to Bill Clinton. And his imprint can be found on a hundred laws that affect America, from food stamps to disability access, from Social Security to tax rates.

Although Dole could be intensely partisan in office, these days he’s out of office and cooperating with his old Democratic rivals. In fact, he’s at the same firm as former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, who a few years back led the Senate’s Democrats against Dole’s Senate Republicans. And Dole stays in touch with the man who defeated him for the presidency.

“I still call Clinton now and then,” Dole noted, especially after the Republican has traveled abroad and met with foreign leaders. “We try to give him a report when we get back if I can be helpful.”

Dole’s office is two blocks from the White House, and decorated with down-home touches: an old black-and-white photograph of his father wearing overalls; a photograph of his boyhood home in Russell, Kan.; a picture of his dog, Leader, who is getting old and is not in the best of health, Dole said.

His new law firm has a less cozy public image. The firm, Verner Liipfert, has come under criticism for doing legal and lobbying work for the tobacco industry.

Dole’s role is primarily one of bringing in new clients, and by all accounts, he’s had much success doing so. He doesn’t lobby his old colleagues on Capitol Hill. He has done work for the Chilean government in a trade dispute, causing a few Democrats to grumble.

Besides the trip to Bosnia, Dole’s public and private work took him to Romania, Slovenia, France, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Taiwan and Chile in 1997. “We didn’t start this until July, so we’ve covered a lot of ground,” he said.

As always, Dole has additional plans.

“I’m trying to figure out whether to do a book - not a political book, but something that might be of interest to people who are just looking at somebody who’s been in politics and maybe might be some inspiration to people with disabilities, or senior citizens.”

On the less-serious side, Dole still dabbles in television commercials, including a recent spot that ran in New England for Dunkin’ Donuts. In return, he gets weekly deliveries of doughnuts, which he distributes to his old buddies, new colleagues and neighbors at the Watergate apartment complex.

“You gotta have a little fun in life,” Dole said.