Campaign Notebook

Tuesday’s developments on the presidential campaign trail:

The candidates:

Lamar Alexander: Told 250 supporters in a telephone conference he needs each of them to raise $5,000 by Friday. Alexander, who ended 1995 with $600,000 to spend, needs the money in order to successfully compete in March’s slew of multi-state primaries.

Pat Buchanan: Vowed to “give Bob Dole difficulty” in New Hampshire. Buchanan, who finished just 3 percentage points behind Bob Dole in the Iowa caucuses Monday night, said Republicans were tired of “the politics of yesterday.” He offered his candidacy as “a vision of the future.”

Bob Dole: Arrived in New Hampshire as the candidate of “tested values” and delivered a presidential-style speech to state lawmakers in Concord. “Only men and women of character can make government work,” he said. Although Dole won the Iowa caucuses, he is campaigning hard for a more solid win in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary next week.

Steve Forbes: Talked strategy at his campaign headquarters in Bedminster, N.J. Forbes, regrouping after a fourth-place finish in Iowa, made a round of morning TV appearances but canceled his only New Hampshire campaign appearance of the day. Among the topics Forbes and aides were discussing: the type of ads he should run in New Hampshire. Iowa polls showed that voters were turned off by his intense ad blitzes.

NEWS OF NOTE:

Former education secretary and drug czar William Bennett has agreed to support Republican Lamar Alexander for president, GOP sources said Tuesday.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bennett planned travel to New Hampshire today to deliver the endorsement.

Well-known New York anchorman Chuck Scarborough has donated $1,000 to Steve Forbes’ presidential campaign while continuing to front WNBC-TV’s evening newscasts. The disclosure in federal election records appeared embarrassing to the station because news organizations tend to dissuade journalists from taking positions on political issues, fearful of compromising their credibility.

“As long as Steve Forbes remains a candidate in the primary, Chuck will not do any original reporting on the Republican campaign,” WNBC said Tuesday.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“I repeated the third grade, but I know that fifth is not first.”

-Phil Gramm, fifth in Iowa.

Asked later if he would throw his support to Dole, Gramm said, “If I were for Senator Dole I wouldn’t have run.”