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EYE ON THE PRIZE
MAY 15, 1996
TRANSCRIPT
Bob Dole has spent 36 years, half his lifetime, on Capitol Hill. But today he announced he would leave the Senate to campaign full-time for the presidency. Kwame Holman reports on the announcement and the reactions to it.
MR. HOLMAN: In recent weeks, Bob Dole had found it increasingly difficult to run the Senate, let alone run for President. Democrats have managed to tie the Senate in knots over their insistence on increasing the minimum wage.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE, Majority Leader: And if we're going to be frustrated by efforts on the other side to hold the bill hostage, that's up to them. They can make it happen.
MR. HOLMAN: It took weeks, instead of days, for the Senate to pass popular immigration reform legislation, and the Republican effort to repeal part of the federal gas tax is stalled.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: As I understand it, everything's been objected to?
SPOKESMAN: That's correct.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: And so where are we? We're--
MR. HOLMAN: In addition, the presumed Republican nominee for President has fallen 20 points behind President Clinton in nationwide polls. Over the past several days, rumors have floated around Washington that Dole might temporarily relinquish his duties as Senate Majority Leader in order to concentrate on his presidential bid but few expected a decision as dramatic as the one he announced today.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: Ladies and gentlemen, one of the qualities of American politics that distinguishes us from other nations is that we judge our politicians as much by the manner in which they leave office as by the vigor with which they pursue it. You do not lay claim to the office you hold. It lays claim to you. Your obligation is to bring to it the gifts you can of labor and honesty and then to depart with grace. And my time to leave this office has come. And I will seek the Presidency with nothing to fall back on but the judgment of the people and nowhere to go but the White House or home. (applause) Six times, six times I've run for Republican leader of the United States Senate, and six times my colleagues, giving me their trust, have elected me, and I'm proud of that. So my campaign for the President is not nearly about attaining office. It's about fundamental things, consequential things, things that are real. My campaign is about telling the truth. It's about doing what is right. It's about electing a President who's not attracted to the glories of the office but, rather, to its difficulties. It's about electing a President once he takes office who will keep his perspective and remain by his deepest nature and inclination one of the people. Therefore, as the campaign for the Presidency begins in earnest, it is my obligation to the Senate and to the people of America to leave behind all the trappings of power, all comfort, and all security.
MR. HOLMAN: Dole made no mention of the road blocks he's run up against recently in the Senate. He took no partisan shots at the Democrats in Congress, nor at President Clinton. He did admit his battle for the Presidency would be uphill.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: We are gaining but still behind in the polls. The press does not lean our way, and many beltway pundits confidently dismiss my chances of victory. I do not find this disheartening, and I do not find it discouraging, for this is where I touch the ground. And it is in touching the ground in moments of difficulty that I've always found my strength. I have been there before, I have done it the hard way, and I will do it the hard way once again. (applause)
MR. HOLMAN: Across the capital, both Democrats and Republicans expressed surprise at the sudden announcement, but they had very different views on the meaning of the Dole departure.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD, (D) Connecticut: Frankly, as I see it here, it's tantamount in effect to an admission of failure, a failure of this, of this Congress, which Bob Dole has led. I mean, this is a Republican-controlled Congress. You've got the Republican leader of this Congress who's basically saying I have no chance of winning unless I get out of town. You might as well raise the white flag right now and say this Congress has failed. Frankly, the agenda which I led hasn't worked.
REP. NEWT GINGRICH, Speaker of the House: It's a tremendous move. It's frankly a bolder move. He and I talked a little bit over the last few weeks. It's a much bolder move to allow him to focus on being our presidential nominee and to allow him to focus on listening to and communicating with the American people, and it also, frankly, has a tremendous impact in California, where he will now be able to spend the time to be in the medium size and small towns and to be out visiting with the people and communicating. So I think all of our, you know, members that I've talked with in the last half hour are very, very positive about this. I think it was far and away the most effective speech they've heard the Senator give and that it really launches him into the summer with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.
REPORTER: What does this do for Congress?
REP. NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I think we have to wait and see how it all shakes out. I think obviously Sen. Dole's a great leader and brings a tremendous amount of skill into that job. On the other hand, I think for all of us on the Republican side having him focused on the Presidential campaign and leading the campaign to lead the country is vastly more important, and I think we'll sort it out internally.
MR. HOLMAN: Late this afternoon at the White House, presidential spokesman Mike McCurry told reporters the President and Sen. Dole spoke shortly before the Senator's announcement.
MIKE McCURRY, White House Spokesman: The President said to Sen. Dole that he has done a lot of things for his country, and he ought rightfully to be proud of his 35 years of service in the United States Congress, and the President thanked Sen. Dole for his service. He said he knew it must have been a very tough decision to make and because the President knew that Sen. Dole so loved the Senate and so loved the work that he did there. The President said that "I hope we can continue our debate like we did when we worked here in the Oval Office with the best interests of the country at heart."
SEN. ROBERT DOLE: I am highly privileged to be my party's presidential nominee, and I am content that my faith and my story are for the American people to decide, for the American people have always known through our long and trying history that God has blessed the hard way, and because of this, as I say thank you and farewell to the Senate, as summer nears and as the campaign begins, my heart is buoyant. Thank you and may God guide us to what is right. Thank you very much. (applause)
MR. HOLMAN: Dole's departure leaves open the Republican leadership post to a potential battle among several Senators and leaves his Kansas Senate seat up for grabs. Dole, himself, won't officially leave the Senate until June 11th, but he leaves Washington immediately for a campaign swing through Illinois.
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