Alexander cuts back campaign sharply

By Ron Fournier, Associated Press, June 4, 1999

WASHINGTON -- Strapped for cash and trailing in polls, Republican presidential candidate Lamar Alexander has ordered steep campaign cutbacks to focus his dwindling resources on Iowa.

The former Tennessee governor trimmed his press, legal, and research operations to keep the campaign afloat in hopes that George W. Bush's front-running presidential bid would falter and give Alexander a surge in early voting states, advisers said yesterday.

Their streamlining strategy requires that Alexander finish strong -- preferably first -- in an August straw vote in Ames, Iowa, and steal momentum from the Texas governor.

"We need to adjust to reflect the difficulties in raising money in the wake of Bush mania," Tom Rath, a top Alexander consultant, said. "Until that subsides -- and it may subside when" Bush "gets out on the campaign trail and we see what kind of candidate he can be -- we need to do things to stay viable."

The development underscores the potency of Bush's fledgling campaign. And it could foreshadow similar problems for the rest of his Republican rivals.

"It's tough raising money for these candidates who are long-shots," said Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institute, a Washington think tank. "Everybody is rushing to George W. Bush's side, hoping to coronate him. That means money is flowing in, endorsements are flowing in, and his standing improves."

Even before making his first campaign swing next week, Bush leads every poll and has amassed endorsements from more than half the GOP governors and members of Congress.

He has raised at least $16 million in the first six months of this year, far more than any other GOP candidate. Only Steve Forbes, who can dip into his family fortune, can compete with Bush financially.

Aides say Alexander has raised about $2.5 million -- not even half of what he had hoped.