Dole Surrenders Privilege, Power He Says Farewell To The Senate To Pursue Presidency Full-Time

Today, as he has for 36 years, Bob Dole will go to work at the U.S. Capitol. It will be the last time.

It will be the last time the Senate-issued Chrysler picks him up and carries him to work. The last time a staff of 50 aides waits to carry out his every wish. The last time the Senate, from elevator operators to committee chairmen, waits to find out what The Leader wants to do.

About 2 p.m., Dole will walk out onto the floor of the Senate and, in what is certain to be an emotional moment, say farewell.

At an age when most men would retire, Dole, 72, is merely quitting one job to search full-time for another, that of president, hoping that a campaign unburdened by the political flotsam of Congress, will help him kick-start his faltering campaign.

“I’ve got another full-time job on the campaign trail,” he said Monday in an interview with CNN.

After watching from Congress as eight other men have taken the oath of office as president, Dole hopes to return to the marble steps of the Capitol one more time, next Jan. 20. But he wants to be the man taking the oath, not one of the men watching.

“The next time we’ll all be together is next January when I deliver my first State of the Union speech,” Dole told House Republicans on Monday.

He leaves behind a life of privilege and power, where lobbyists lined up to court his favor with praise or checks, where corporate jets were at his beck and call, where he could easily raise more than $30 million for his presidential campaign.

But he also will leave behind a world where Democrats could harangue him daily, where even on his last day they planned a press conference to lambaste his performance.

Late Monday, Dole closed the Senate for the day, saying, “This is the last time I will close the Senate. …

“We’ll all be looking back on what happens in this Congress, what action was taken, what did we do for the American people, what did we do to the American people, and I believe when the record is added up - the asset side and the debit side - the assets will far outweigh the debit side.”