Dole Has Forbes In Sights Publisher’s Media Blitz, Poll Ratings Prompt Attack

Speaking before a gathering of southern Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., for the first time went on the offensive against challenger Malcolm S. “Steve” Forbes Jr., the millionaire publisher whose self-financed campaign has moved in Dole’s view from irritant to potential threat.

Forbes’ multimillion-dollar media blitz in the early caucus and primary states, advocating a simple flat percentage income tax, has vaulted him in polls to the front of the pack of Republicans challenging Dole for the GOP nomination. Dole’s speech and a television commercial aimed at Forbes were the first clear signs the wealthy publisher had begun to erode the front-runner’s support enough to force him to respond directly.

“Polling shows that Forbes has begun to emerge from the pack,” said Bill Lacy, Dole’s deputy campaign manager. “He’s spent millions of dollars on distorting Bob Dole’s record. We felt it was time for his free ride to come to an end.”

Dole made numerous references to Forbes’s wealth to the southern Republicans, and quipped, “He’s got a lot of money and he’ll have a lot less when this is over.”

The Dole campaign’s television ads, which began airing in Iowa Friday, declare Forbes a candidate of “untested leadership” and “risky ideas.” A Dole spokesman said the ad also might also run in New Hampshire.

The strategic shift in the Dole campaign came on the eve of a candidate debate in Des Moines and appeared timed to make Forbes and his ideas the focus of the encounter. It is attention that, for now, the Forbes campaign seemed to enjoy.

In a statement, Forbes interpreted the attack as meaning it is a “one-on-one” race. “Bob Dole, dropping in the polls, has hit the panic button,” Forbes said in a statement. “In Bob Dole’s new negative ad, we see the same old mean-spirited Bob Dole voters rejected in 1988.”

In his remarks before the 1,500 party activists and politicians, Dole did not mention former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander or Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who has said his self-styled “true conservatism” will vault him into the lead in the Republican primaries.

Dole aides, however, pointed to a poll in Friday morning’s Mobile Register showing Dole had the support of 51 percent of those who said they would vote in Alabama’s Republican primary in June. Gramm had 10 percent of the primary vote, and Forbes 7 percent.

However, even some Dole supporters here said that seemed premature - the primary is not until June 4 and few candidates have spent much time or money in the state.