Elizabeth Dole Brings Gop To Their Feet Speech Uses Sure-Fire Themes That Leave Delegates Cheering

Elizabeth Dole hit all the high notes Saturday in singing the praises of an America headed by her husband - if he can beat Bill Clinton in November.

Urging some 1,300 cheering delegates at the state Republican Convention to “pull out all the stops in this election,” Dole promised fundamental changes in the nation’s welfare system, schools, taxes and even social fabric.

Dole’s speech highlighted many items in the state party’s platform, which was adopted without debate early in the evening.

She brought the chanting, sign-waving delegates to their feet by saying Bob Dole, the outgoing Senate Majority Leader, would spend more on the military than Clinton and avoid sending U.S. troops on United Nations operations.

“Maybe it helps to understand the problems (of the military) better when you’ve served,” said Dole. The line, contrasting her husband’s heroic World War II service against Clinton’s avoidance of Vietnam a generation later, brought one of the loudest and longest ovations of the afternoon.

Dole preached unity, and by some standards it was a unified convention.

The party platform that spelled out many of the topics she covered was passed without any amendments and almost no debate.

But supporters of presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan did retaliate against state party chairman Ken Eikenberry for the argument that kept Buchanan out of the convention.

Eikenberry and other longtime party officials were denied spots as delegates to the national convention in San Diego in August. They lost a long drawn out ballot battle to a coalition of Buchanan supporters and abortion foes.

None of the rancor was evident when Dole charmed the crowd with her 45-minute speech.

She belted out sure-fire crowd pleasers as she strolled through the packed convention hall with a wireless microphone and grasped outstretched hands.

On taxes: “He’ll get rid of the IRS as we know it and scrap the current tax system. That includes reducing the capital gains tax and estate taxes.”

On crime: “Don’t you think it’s time to end parole for violent offenders? Juveniles who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults.”

On schools: “Bob Dole did not vote for the Department of Education in 1979 and he would shut it down.

Dole said her husband, who was in Washington, D.C., Saturday, would also reform welfare, by requiring teen mothers who receive benefits to stay in school and be cut off after five years. He’d also balance the federal budget and punish countries that violate trade agreements.

Dole’s speech was the highlight of a long day of convention manuevering. Republicans spent much of the day trying to pick nine delegates to the national convention who were acceptable to the majority of the state convention.

The fight between Eikenberry and Buchanan generated two separate slates of delegates. The slate supported by party leaders included Eikenberry and U.S. Reps. Jennifer Dunn and Doc Hastings and state Senate Minority Leader Dan MacDonald, who are active in the Dole campaign. Some members of the Buchanan slate were actually supporters of the former television commentator who were pledging to vote for Dole’s nomination at the national convention. Dunn and Hastings eventually withdrew, and Eikenberry and MacDonald lost in the balloting.

As the results were being delivered to the convention floor, Eikenberry was philosophical about his loss.

“The vote has been cast. I accept it. The process is fair,” he said. “My job is to do everything I can to elect Republicans in November and that’s what I’m going to do.”

The fight over delegates kept the convention from fighting over its platform, but two days of speeches proved conventiongoers were generally united anyway in their support of property rights, gun rights, welfare reform and smaller government.

They also opposed cuts in military spending, outcome-based education and budget deficits.

Opposition to abortion was never in doubt during the two-day meeting at the Meydenbauer Convention Center. Candidates for statewide office touted their strong support of family values and the sanctity of life.

Even a hint of support for abortion rights prompted a negative reaction. When gubernatorial candidate Norm Maleng mentioned New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Massachusetts Gov. William Weld - who both consider themselves “pro-choice” - the delegates booed.

The proposed platform called for a ban on a controversial procedure called a partial-birth abortion, parental consent for minors seeking an abortion and an end to public funds “to promote or provide abortion.”

Candidates were given brief chances to address the delegates, who numbered about 1,300 when the day started but dwindled as the day wore on.

Gubernatorial candidates tested the strength of their campaign organizations by passing out signs that supporters could wave when they entered. Former state Sen. Ellen Craswell of Bremerton clearly won the sign war and turned the convention floor into a sea of white and blue for her speech in which she discounted the suggestion that Republicans were without compassion.

“Ripping children out of the arms of parents because they’ve spanked them is not compassion, she said. “Taxing senior citizens out of their homes is not compassion.”

, DataTimes