ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANCHESTER, N.H.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
The top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination turned on each other with talons bared here Thursday night as a televised candidate debate turned in some of the sharpest exchanges of the 1996 campaign.
Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and television commentator Pat Buchanan ganged up on front-runner Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, accusing him of distorting their records and running a divisive and negative campaign.
In his opening statement, Alexander charged that Dole was running false advertising aimed at Buchanan and himself and demanded that Dole pull them off the air.
Buchanan accused Dole of conducting a hostile phone bank operation aimed at undermining Buchanan's campaign and said his rival had passed the bounds of political propriety by branding him an ``extremist.''
``Bob, it's not true,'' Buchanan said, turning to his right to look directly at the Senate majority leader. ``Pat Buchanan is not an extremist. Those are the cuss words of the establishment.''
``Bob Dole is a better man than the campaign his folks are running,'' Buchanan said, adding that Dole was ``pirating my message and parroting my rhetoric'' in order to slow Buchanan's progress among disaffected lower-income voters.
Dole initially refused to be baited, hewing closely to his scripted plan to talk about a balanced budget, welfare reform and the need to elect a Republican president to complete the overhaul of the federal government envisioned by the new Republican majority in Congress.
But his restraint lasted only so long. First, Dole accused Alexander of initiating the campaign of negative television advertising last year with an attack on California Gov. Pete Wilson during Wilson's stint as a candidate.
``I didn't know anything about negative advertising until I saw you do it against Pete Wilson,'' Dole said, maintaining a tight-mouthed smile.
Later, he turned on Steve Forbes, complaining that Forbes had ``pounded'' him with negative advertising.
``You've got a lot of money. You want to buy this election,'' Dole said. ``But this election's not for sale.''
For his part, Forbes began by refraining from personal attacks on his rivals, choosing instead to paint a more positive picture of his campaign program after weeks of an expensive and highly negative advertising campaign.
``Before you decide who you believe in, you have to decide who you believe,'' Forbes said, addressing himself directly to the television audience. He said that he supports not only a flat tax, but a return of control of education to parents, greater choice for Medicare recipients and alternatives to the mandatory Social Security contribution system.
``Politicians may talk about such issues, but I've shown what to do about them,'' Forbes said.
But later in the debate, in response to a question about negative advertising, Forbes slammed Alexander for his personal business dealings, pointing to one transaction - an option to purchase a Nashville newspaper - in which Alexander gained more than $600,000 after putting up almost no money of his own.
Gibing at Alexander's campaign slogan - ``ABC, Alexander beats Clinton'' - Forbes quipped that Alexander really meant to compare himself not to the president, but to Hillary Rodham Clinton and her large gains from trading cattle futures.
``The reason everyone knows about that is I've disclosed my tax returns,'' Alexander said, when his turn came to respond, demanding that Forbes do likewise.
Thursday's debate, sponsored by New Hampshire television station WMUR and CNN, provided more contention and confrontation than any of the previous, tightly controlled debate formats. Opening statements were brief, and the leading candidates used them to try to weaken their opponents rather than giving abbreviated versions of their stump speeches.
With the crucial New Hampshire primary only five days away, Dole, Buchanan and Alexander were clearly jockeying for advantage among the large body of undecided New Hampshire voters. As the debate neared, several new polls showed a tight race, with Dole and Buchanan apparently vying for the lead, while Alexander and Forbes fight for third. The polls, however, also showed Buchanan's standing rising in recent days and Forbes' falling.
The debate could be the last time the GOP's longer shots get any major exposure. Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, anti-abortion candidate Alan Keyes, California Rep. Bob Dornan and Illinois businessman Morry Taylor were in this group.
Dornan plans to call it quits after New Hampshire, and Taylor might, too. Keyes and Lugar have vowed to press on, but there are no commitments to future debates so they may have few opportunities to share the spotlight.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The debate provided an opportunity for all of the leading candidates to address clear tasks confronting them. Dole needed to strengthen his grip on the status of front-runner, seriously mangled by a slim victory in Monday's Iowa caucuses and by relentless pounding by Forbes and Buchanan's economically minded electorate as well as it did Iowa's social conservatives; he may also have to deflect news stories linking a top adviser to a white supremacist organization.
Alexander, meanwhile, had to put substantive meat on the bones of his ``none of the above'' candidacy, which so far seems to be thriving on the fact that voters find less to dislike about him than about his rivals. Until now, however, Alexander has offered little in the way of prescriptions for the United States' ills.
And Forbes must strive to restore luster to his main issue, the 17 percent flat tax proposal.
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Lamar Alexander and Pat Buchanan poked at Bob Dole over negative campaign tactics Thursday night as Republican candidates for the White House debated politics and policy five days before the pivotal New Hampshire primary.
Two long shots in the race warned the bickering was only helping President Clinton.
While they sparred over the tone and tactics of the campaign, the candidates were in broad agreement over why a Republican president would be better than a second Clinton term: the budget would be balanced, taxes cut and reformed, more power shifted to state and local governments.
Publisher Steve Forbes said President Clinton was ill-equipped to revive the economy, which he said was burdened by a corrupt tax code. ``This recovery is the slowest in the last 50 years,'' Forbes said. ``It's sluggish. It's nothing to brag about. We're like a patient with walking pneumonia. We're out of bed but we're not well.''
Antiabortion candidate Alan Keyes, however, said Republicans were short-sighted to focus on economic statistics, blaming America's angst on the decline of the two-parent family. Republicans, he said, need to promote ``the beating heart of our moral discipline and our moral responsibility, two things Bill Clinton seems to know nothing about.''
Buchanan said his rivals were blind to the real cause of economic anxiety. ``When you cut trade deals that force Americans to compete with people making $1 an hour ... wages are going to go down,'' Buchanan said.
But Dole said Buchanan's protectionist trade views would kill more jobs that they would save. As Buchanan rolled his eyes and shook his head, Dole said of Buchanan's trade views, ``he'd build a wall around the united states.''
Just hours after Dole launched a TV ad labeling Alexander a liberal on taxes, spending and crime, the former Tennessee governor opened the 90-minute, nationally televised debate by confronting the wobbly front-runner.
``Senator Dole, you are better than your negative ads,'' Alexander said. ``Why don't you pull them?''
Dole followed, promising in his opening statement that if elected he would pass tax cuts, welfare reform a balanced budget and bring ``moral leadership to the White House.'' Responding to Alexander, Dole recalled that for all his complaining, it was Alexander who launched the first negative ad of the campaign, months ago against California Gov. Pete Wilson, who has since quit the race.
A few moments later, Buchanan criticized a Dole campaign ad that calls Buchanan ``extreme.'' Buchanan turned to Dole and asked ``If I'm extremist, why are you pirating my ideas and parroting my rhetoric?''
These exchanges, and the negative advertising, brought criticism from two long shots in the race, Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar and California Rep. Robert Dornan.
``No Republican should speak ill of another Republican,'' Dornan said. He praised Dole for speaking policy after one contentious exchange.
Lugar said the bitter campaign would damage GOP chances against President Clinton, regardless of who emerged as the nominee.
Buchanan, the surprise of the race after a win in Louisiana's caucuses and a close second to Dole in Iowa, promised voters a president who aggressively opposes abortion and takes on ``big transnational corporations'' that are sending American jobs overseas.
``It is catching fire,'' he said of his campaign.
Alexander did come to Dole's defense at one point, saying Clinton, not Republican congressional leaders, was to blame for lack of progress on the 1994 Republican ``Contract with America.
``What the Republican Congress needs is an agenda-setting Republican president,'' Alexander said,.
Forbes concurred on that point, but said his flat tax plan was superior to the tax cuts advocated by congressional Republicans. He also said Republicans weren't doing enough to put control over schools back in parents' hands. And he warned at the outset that voters shouldn't believe the politicians sharing the WMUR-TV studio with him.
``Before you decide who to believe in, you have to decide who to believe,'' said Forbes, hoping the debate would halt his steady slide in New Hampshire polls that now show Dole and Buchanan fighting for the lead, and Alexander inching up.
In the pre-debate warmup, Buchanan labeled Dole a fan of higher taxes and foe of American workers Thursday and said bluntly to his GOP presidential rival: ``The time for your old politics is over.''
Alexander also had Dole in his sights.
``Senator Dole is our most respected legislative engineer but he is not the kind of visionary I expect we need to beat President Clinton,'' Alexander said. Dole fired back, not in person but with a new TV ad pointing on Alexander raised taxes and state spending while governor.
With Dole and Buchanan fighting for the lead here, and some polls suggesting Alexander might be climbing into contention, the debate offered a chance for a major breakthrough - or stumble. Each contender had something to prove.
Coming off a weak win in Iowa, Dole's goal was to be upbeat and presidential, blunting criticism that he would be no match in a fall debate with President Clinton. But while he wasn't looking to go on the attack in the debate, Dole launched a new ad designed to confront Alexander.
``Liberal on taxes. Liberal on spending. Liberal on crime,'' the Dole ad says after citing actions Alexander took as Tennessee governor. ``Lamar Alexander: not what he pretends to be.''
For Forbes, the debate was a chance to revive a campaign that was showing remarkable potential just a few weeks ago but has spiraled downward amid increased focus on his flat tax proposal. Forbes has fallen from a dead heat with Dole here into a distant third or even fourth in some polling.
The debate could be the last time the GOP's longer shots get any major exposure. Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, anti-abortion candidate Alan Keyes, California Rep. Bob Dornan and Illinois businessman Morry Taylor were in this group.
Dornan plans to call it quits after New Hampshire, and Taylor might, too. Keyes and Lugar have vowed to press on, but there are no commitments to future debates so they may have few opportunities to share the spotlight. |Los Angeles Times|
MANCHESTER, N.H. - The top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination turned on each other with talons bared here Thursday night as a televised candidate debate turned in some of the sharpest exchanges of the 1996 campaign.
Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and television commentator Pat Buchanan ganged up on front-runner Sen. Bob Dole, accusing him of distorting their records and running a divisive and negative campaign.
In his opening statement, Alexander charged that Dole was running false advertising aimed at Buchanan and himself and demanded that Dole pull them off the air.
Buchanan accused Dole of conducting a hostile phone bank operation aimed at undermining Buchanan's campaign and said his rival had passed the bounds of political propriety by branding him an ``extremist.''
``Bob, it's not true,'' Buchanan said, turning to his right to look directly at the Senate majority leader. ``Pat Buchanan is not an extremist. Those are the cuss words of the establishment.''
``Bob Dole is a better man than the campaign his folks are running,'' Buchanan said, adding that Dole was ``pirating my message and parroting my rhetoric'' in order to slow Buchanan's progress among disaffected, lower-income voters.
Dole initially refused to be baited, hewing closely to his scripted plan to talk about a balanced budget, welfare reform and the need to elect a Republican president to complete the overhaul of the federal government envisioned by the new Republican majority in Congress.
But his restraint lasted only so long. First, Dole accused Alexander of initiating the campaign of negative television advertising last year with an attack on California Gov. Pete Wilson during Wilson's stint as a candidate.
``I didn't know anything about negative advertising until I saw you do it against Pete Wilson,'' Dole said, maintaining a tight-mouthed smile.
Later, he turned on Steve Forbes, complaining that Forbes had ``pounded'' him with negative advertising.
``You've got a lot of money. You want to buy this election,'' Dole said. ``But this election's not for sale.''
For his part, Forbes began by refraining from personal attacks on his rivals, choosing instead to paint a more positive picture of his campaign program after weeks of an expensive and highly negative advertising campaign.
``Before you decide who you believe in, you have to decide who you believe,'' Forbes said, addressing himself directly to the television audience. He said that he supports not only a flat tax, but a return of control of education to parents, greater choice for Medicare recipients and alternatives to the mandatory Social Security contribution system.
``Politicians may talk about such issues, but I've shown what to do about them,'' Forbes said.
But later in the debate, in response to a question about negative advertising, Forbes slammed Alexander for his personal business dealings, pointing to one transaction - an option to purchase a Nashville newspaper - in which Alexander gained more than $600,000 after putting up almost no money of his own.
Gibing at Alexander's campaign slogan - ``ABC, Alexander beats Clinton'' - Forbes quipped that Alexander really meant to compare himself not to the president, but to Hillary Rodham Clinton and her large gains from trading cattle futures.
``The reason everyone knows about that is I've disclosed my tax returns,'' Alexander said, when his turn came to respond, demanding that Forbes do likewise.
Thursday's debate, sponsored by New Hampshire television station WMUR and CNN, provided more contention and confrontation than any of the previous, tightly controlled debate formats. Opening statements were brief and the leading candidates used them to try to weaken their opponents rather than giving abbreviated versions of their stump speeches.
With the crucial New Hampshire primary only five days away, Dole, Buchanan and Alexander were clearly jockeying for advantage among the large body of undecided New Hampshire voters. As the debate neared, several new polls showed a tight race, with Dole and Buchanan apparently vying for the lead, while Alexander and Forbes fight for third. The polls, however, also showed Buchanan's standing rising in recent days and Forbes' falling.
The debate could be the last time the GOP's longer shots get any major exposure. Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, anti-abortion candidate Alan Keyes, California Rep. Bob Dornan and Illinois businessman Morry Taylor were in this group.
Dornan plans to call it quits after New Hampshire, and Taylor might, too. Keyes and Lugar have vowed to press on, but there are no commitments to future debates so they may have few opportunities to share the spotlight.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 282 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. The eight GOP candidates begin their nationallyby CNBtelevised debate Thursday in Manchester, N.H. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS