THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610200042
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: 95 lines
That 17 days before the election Bob Dole came wooing Virginia's meager 13 electoral votes suggests the desperate straits in which the Bobster is laboring. Valiantly.
Yet the ordinarily dolorous Dole was as upbeat Saturday as if he were skipping along the yellow brick road to that Oz of all Ozes, the White House.
The teeming masses - jammed elbow to elbow under the wide-spreading cope of Nauticus and its embracing wharves - proved to be more responsive to Dole than to any others hereabouts since princely John Kennedy materialized magically in 1960 on Granby High School's gridiron.
Saturday's patient, standing crowd, as closely packed upright as so many canned asparagus, was held in thrall by the thunderbolt beat of the four-member Power Play band of Virginia Beach.
The four played as if they were riding a hurricane, contesting it.
Truly excellent, the sound of music carried against the wind all the way across the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth. (I raced over to verify that image near the end. It was even better over there - and roomier. Several couples were dancing on the dock.)
The turnout at Nauticus was largely on the youthful side - an outpouring of teen-agers extending into baby boomers, including a generous segment of middle-aged, balding adults. Only a few of us above 70 were wavering about.
Early Saturday morning, reached by phone in Charlottesville, University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato had theorized that Dole's pausing to drop by conservative Virginia at this critical juncture was an effort to try to corral and tie down at least a respectable 150 electoral votes.
He reasoned that Dole needs that many to keep from being humiliated, as well as to protect the Republican Congress from a blowout.
That coincided with my view, and we also agreed that in the face of a blooming economy Dole should have launched long ago an all-out assault on President Clinton's character blemishes.
``He hesitated to use the only arrow in his quiver,'' Dr. Sabato observed, rightly.
Sometimes, on the brink of defeat, a doomed candidate throws off political fetters others have fastened on him (the likes of which have shackled Dole) and, freed, becomes his natural self again.
Not until Thursday, at the least, will national polls disclose the full impact of Dole's newly honed rhetoric on the Clinton campaign.
Meanwhile, Dole is not going gently into that good night. He will hang tight until the last poll closes November fifth.
Dole and the thousands in Saturday's tumult were in rapport from the time he came on the platform at Nauticus, a tanned paladin in a white windbreaker.
While introducing Gov. George F. Allen, U.S. Sen. John Warner observed, en passant, that not once in his 18 years at the side of Bob Dole, ``my old boss,'' had he heard anyone question Dole's word.
``You could go to the bank on Bob Dole's promises,'' Warner thundered.
As for Allen, Warner intoned that the Republican governor had created more jobs than any other governor ``in the history of Virginia.''
Amid the passing around of compliments, Allen urged that Virginians redouble their efforts to elect John Warner in his race against Democrat Mark Warner.
Then, reaching Dole, Allen proclaimed, it is time all Americans have a president they can trust.
``And now,'' Allen cried, ``let me present to you a man who trusts you - the next president of the United States!''
Greeting Dole with prolonged, roaring waterfalls of applause, the moiling thousands waved bandanna-sized flags, a tossing forest of Stars and Stripes, red, white, and blue. ``Welcome to Bill Clinton's retirement party!'' Dole called to the throng.
Dole mentioned that his wife, Elizabeth, was busied elsewhere in his behalf. The crowd went into a paroxism of joy when he added: ``She is so talented that Eleanor Roosevelt is trying to reach her!''
Three or so weeks ago, talk show host Rush Limbaugh reported having heard that GOP stalwart veterans were determined that if Dole were defeated, they would seize control of the GOP and field four years hence a candidate who could complete a sentence.
Interviewed on panel shows, Dole's deep-timbred voice is smooth, resolute. Before crowds, especially outdoors, his tones tend to go flat, klaxon-like, as he shouts, repeating phrases as if he is hurling slogans into the wind.
None of that staccato discourse was evident Saturday. Indeed, Dole scarcely was able to finish a sentence anyway before an ovation drowned it out. To hear that chorus would have heartened Limbaugh.
At one point Dole drew a rapturous outcry when he hailed the prospect of more nuclear submarines coming from Newport News Shipbuilding.
In one of the rare times that Dole has referred to partial-birth abortions, he aroused the crowd to one of its loudest affirmations when he pledged to support a ban on that ``awful'' procedure.
``I will sign that bill when it comes across my desk,'' Dole said.
``You're all invited to the Inaugural,'' Dole shouted. Well, at least he might include Jay and Karen Moore, Michael Irving, and Everitte Spells of the Power Play.
A bystander told my colleague Krystyna Stefansky: ``Those four play better than the band at my wedding.''
Meanwhile, no matter what the polls say, Bill Clinton would be well advised not to desist efforts to protect his lead.
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