THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601210096
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
As other Republican presidential candidates fielded questions from National Issues Convention delegates Saturday, many may have been wondering, ``Where's Bob Dole?''
The answer was New Hampshire - home of the first-in-the-nation primary.
Attending a rally at a fraternity at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., Dole told students, ``Winning votes is not just about TV ads, press conferences and big rallies.'' Instead, Dole said he favored ``retail politics.''
``That means you go where the people are,'' said Dole, who has been labeled the GOP's front runner by the national press.
Dole opted not to take the questions of National Issues Conventions delegates. Instead, he spoke to the Dartmouth rally, a GOP voters luncheon in Claremont, and a Dole supporters' rally in Concord. The New Hampshire primary will be held Feb. 20.
After his first speech at Dartmouth, Dole agreed to take one of the questions from one of the National Issues Convention groups: ``Does the government have a role in encouraging private industry to retrain and retool a displaced work force?'' But the question, posed by a reporter, went unanswered when Dole's campaign press secretary, Nelson Warfield, informed the senator he needed to leave immediately for his second speech at Dartmouth College.
During that speech, Dole did say that a balanced budget was crucial to economic growth and that he was for ``creating more jobs and more opportunities for more companies all over America - so you'll have a good job. You'll have a solid future.''
Dole also briefly answered questions from America Online users and took part in an interview with MTV's Tabitha Sorenson. He fielded questions from reporters on whether he felt ``threatened'' by fellow presidential hopeful Steve Forbes' success in the polls and what he thought of the movie ``Animal House'' - which he quoted in his speech to the students.
The formats of the events, the tight schedule and crowds left little time for anything other than handshaking, photo opportunities and brief reminiscenses with fellow war veterans at the GOP luncheon.
Of his interview with MTV's Sorenson, Dole joked to the GOP voters in Claremont, ``I answered a lot of questions I may never have to answer again.'' by CNB