Dole Says He’s Cal Ripken Of Republicans

Sen. Bob Dole, ambushed in Iowa’s presidential straw poll last month, is taking no chances in Florida where he campaigned Saturday at county caucuses held to choose delegates to the state GOP convention.

“I’m the Cal Ripken of the Republican Party,” Dole told delegates in Palm Beach County, comparing himself to baseball’s new king of longevity. “I’ve been at it for a long time.”

Dole was tied by Texas Sen. Phil Gramm in the Iowa straw poll last month, creating a perception of vulnerability and causing Dole to shake up his campaign staff.

Florida is in the middle of choosing 3,400 delegates who will vote Nov. 18 in a presidential preference ballot during the Orlando convention called Presidency III.

Dole has acknowledged he needs to win the Florida event as a warm-up for the primary season and pledged to push the conservative agenda in the Senate.

Dole promised delegates he will work for simplification of tax laws, welfare reform and a cautious restructuring of Medicare. He predicted Senate action on a welfare bill by Thursday.

“The revolution started in 1994,” he said. “We’re going to get it done.”

But Dole conceded later that Sen. Bob Packwood’s exit from the Senate by Oct. 1 and his immediate departure as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee would set the GOP timetable back. Sen. William Roth of Delaware has agreed to take over as finance chairman after Packwood’s ouster for sexual and official misconduct.

“I’ll be a little more active on the Senate Finance Committee,” Dole said. “I don’t really need another job, but we need to get it done.”