ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120088
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Lede
After a misty morning visit to his parents' graves, Bob Dole steamed triumphantly into the Republican convention city Sunday to promise a presidency that would cut taxes, balance the budget and ``win the Reagan revolution once and for all.''
With running mate Jack Kemp in tow, a beaming Dole told a boisterous waterfront welcoming rally that the ``era of Bill Clinton is about over.'' Calling Kemp to his side, Dole declared: ``My friends, this is your Republican ticket. ... Here in San Diego, the real race begins.''
Kemp was returning to the city where he played professional football three decades ago, settling into a new role as a backup. He put aside years of rivalry and skepticism and said of Dole, ``America needs his leadership to take us in a new direction for the new millennium.''
The made-for-TV arrival - complete with a ferry ride across San Diego Bay and a mock White House - was a curtain-raiser for the meticulously scripted week ahead, as Republicans stage a convention crucial to their chances of reclaiming the presidency they lost in 1992 and defending the congressional majorities they captured in 1994.
Party unity is the goal of every political convention, and Dole got good news on that front. ``It is time for a party truce in the name of Republican victory,'' Dole primary rival Pat Buchanan told supporters, taking credit for the GOP platform's conservative tilt.
He did not endorse Dole - or even mention him by name, but he did quash any talk that his followers should bolt the GOP. ``America does not necessarily need a third party,'' he said. ``What we need is a fighting second party.''
``Let us at least for the next 10 weeks - nobles and knights and yes, even the peasants with pitchforks - suspend our battles with one another and join together in common cause to defeat Bill Clinton and Prince Albert and dispossess them of all their holdings east of the Potomac River,'' Buchanan said in a speech written for a rally of supporters.
Earlier in the night, in one sign that Buchanan's crowd wasn't entirely ready to fall in line, Oliver North was hooted down by the crowd and greeted with a chorus of ``go, Pat, go,'' when he discouraged the idea of a third-party presidential bid by Buchanan.
Two new polls offered the GOP ticket encouragement, showing President Clinton ahead by about 10 points. ``It's a fresh start for us,'' Dole said during a visit to the coffee shop in his hotel. But two others suggested Clinton's lead was nearly 20 points.
For all the celebration, there was no shortage of doubts about Dole.
``I think they'll do wonderful things if and when they get elected - and I do mean if,'' said Chuck Colony of San Diego, a convention volunteer. ``They'll have a tough road ahead.''
Dole acknowledged as much but said he had long ago - during his recovery from World War II wounds - eliminated ``can't be done'' from his vocabulary.
He promised to make his new tax-cutting economic plan the campaign centerpiece. He chastised Clinton for saying big tax cuts and balancing the budget cannot go hand in hand, promising he would do both if elected along with a Republican Congress.
``It is up to us to finish the job and win the `Reagan Revolution' once and for all,'' Dole said.
Inside the San Diego Convention Center, construction workers put the finishing touches on the cozy hall. Texas Gov. George W. Bush and New Jersey Gov. Christine Whitman led a parade of GOP luminaries in visiting the podium from which they will try to turn the election dynamics the GOP's way.
Viewing voters will learn a lot about Dole. The candidate himself reflected Sunday on the long path from Russell, Kan., to the GOP nomination. Before leaving Russell, Dole gave Kemp a tour of the cramped basement where his family lived during the Depression, renting out the upstairs to help make ends meet.
``I wanted him to know it's a long way from here to San Diego,'' Dole said.
Touring the convention floor, House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas noted he was attending his first national convention so, ``you'll excuse me when I'm gawking.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Jack and Joanne Kemp (from left), Elizabeth Dole,by CNBRobin Dole and Bob Dole arrive at the San Diego Port on a ferry
Sunday. Dole plans to accept the GOP presidential nomination later
this week in San Diego. color. Graphic: Chart. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT