
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995                   TAG: 9506050053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

DOLE'S CAMPAIGN GOES FOR QUICK, SURE `VALUES' HIT

Bob Dole's presidential aspirations will rise or fall on his accomplishments as Senate majority leader, the conventional wisdom goes. But leadership can take many forms, and Dole is just beginning to tap the possibilities.

With his assault on Hollywood values, the consummate nuts-and-bolts legislator is turning to the bully pulpit and larger themes. At the same time, he's deflecting attention from the sticky uncertainties of the Senate.

The balanced budget amendment died for lack of one vote; sweeping House-passed legal reforms were substantially weakened; Republicans are feuding over tax cuts; and Dr. Henry Foster may be confirmed as surgeon general despite opposition by Dole and social conservatives.

Attacking gangsta rap and violent movies is a whole lot simpler, and gets immediate political results.

``People are very happy he's done this,'' said Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council and a onetime domestic policy adviser to President Reagan.

Smart politicians realize at some point, sometimes out of strategic necessity, that there's more to being presidential than getting bills passed.

When his cherished health reform plan was on the ropes last fall, President Clinton began talking about ``community values,'' the importance of character and the ills of society. He hasn't stopped since.

Last week in Montana, motivated in part by the Oklahoma City bombing, he implored people to disagree in civilized ways. This month, Clinton has invited community leaders to search for common ground on social problems.

Dole, R-Kan., the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, is not exactly a natural fit for the bully pulpit. As Bauer put it, ``Great rhetoric has not been one of his strengths.''

For years, Dole has been immersed in arcane legislative details, driven by the imperative to build coalitions and forge compromises. He is fluent in areas most Americans are not: unfunded mandates, line-item vetoes, cloture, the 10th Amendment.

In the 1988 primary season, Dole mostly baited George Bush about the Iran-Contra affair and growing up rich.He said he understood people who ``made it the hard way.'' He spent a lot of time defending his record on tax increases - the issue that ultimately did him in.

``Clearly, in the past, a better job could have been done with fleshing out the senator's whole range of concerns. We're not going to make that mistake again,'' said a Dole associate, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Dole's values-and-violence speech underscores his recognition that candidates for president need to be more than legislative facilitators. Dole strategists call it ``the leadership thing.''

Dole targeted song lyrics that are abusive, violent and obscene. Only 25 percent of the respondents in an April poll by Dole's pollsters said they thought Hollywood TV and movie producers represented their values.

``The most severe problems facing the country right now are not ones that lend themselves to easy legislative solutions,'' Bauer said. ``Using the bully pulpit may be the most important role the next president has.''

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB