NEW HAMPSHIRE WEEKLY / POLITICAL DIARY / LAURA A. KIERNAN

Card from the Doles was the first clue

By Laura A. Kiernan, January 10, 1999

Longtime Republican activist and House member Fran Wendelboe of New Hampton says she knew Elizabeth Dole was going to take a close look at running for President even before she announced last week that she was quitting the Red Cross. What tipped her off? It was the Christmas card, of course, from Dole and her husband, former US senator Bob Dole. Wendelboe says she hadn't gotten a card from them in probably 10 years.

"As soon as I opened it I thought, 'Oops, this is serious,' " said Wendelboe, a conservative serving her second term in the New Hampshire House and who worked for Bob Dole's unsuccessful 1988 primary campaign.

There were the Doles, standing in front of Washington's National Cathedral. The card noted they were married in the Bethlehem Chapel there in 1975. "It really struck me, she's in," Wendelboe said.

For those who make an art of reading the political tea leaves -- or the mail -- the Christmas card list is a goldmine of speculation about who's up to what and who's trying to keep in touch, or renew ties, with potential campaign workers. Wendelboe, who worked on US Senator Phil Gramm's primary campaign in 1996, says she heard from former vice president Dan Quayle, publisher Steve Forbes and conservative activist Gary Bauer.

There was nothing from US Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri, even though he had held an ice cream social at Squam Lake for Wendelboe when she ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate nomination last fall against incumbent Ned Gordon, a Bristol Republican. Now, it turns out, Ashcroft has backed out of the presidential sweepstakes altogether. Which is maybe why he didn't waste the stamps.

Back to Elizabeth Dole: It so happens she has been booked to be the guest speaker Feb. 8 at the annual Citizen of the Year dinner sponsored by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

Outsiders say: Get it over with!

How about some input from outside the State House about the education finding crisis? One evening last week, the selectmen from Pembroke sat down for dessert and coffee with state Senator Sylvia Larsen, a Concord Democrat, the four-member House delegation, the town clerk and the school superintendent. The entire legislative agenda was on the table, but school funding dominated the discussion, and local officials made it clear that they felt the Legislature had delayed long enough.

"They need to get off their duffs and make a decision," Democrat Armand "Tom" Martel, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said later. "They stall and stall and stall until they are challenged to a duel."

The Supreme Court's Claremont decision may have done just that, Martel said, but he added, "I'm still not sure it's going to happen even with the court on their back."

Selectman John Goff, also a Democrat, said he doesn't think the 400-member House has changed much since he was a member in the 1960s. He says he saw "25-30 movers and shakers, 150 listeners and 200 who just sit there and say 'no.' "

Darn the court, full speed ahead

Don't think that everybody is willing to say uncle to the Supreme Court on school funding.

"I'm saying we should challenge them," says freshman state Senator Mary Brown (R-Chichester). She says the state hasn't done enough, but the court went too far.

Brown, who served two terms in the House, is standing by her Education Homestead Act, despite those who say it doesn't meet the court-ordered requirements for a solution to the school funding crisis. Simply put, the Homestead Act would have the state pay half of local school property taxes, up to the first $100,000 of the value of a home. Brown says the plan, which would take 10 years to implement, will provide much needed property tax relief and more money for schools. Brown says new GOP state Senators Pat Krueger of Manchester and Arthur Klemm Jr. of Windham will be cosponsors.

A footnote on Mary Brown: When you meet this newcomer to the 24-member Senate, she'll give you a copy of a pocket-sized manual she wrote called "The Rule Book." Among other civilized guidelines, she suggests that lawmakers tell the truth, do not speak ill of others and not use their office for their own benefit. On the House floor, where 400 members are squeezed shoulder to shoulder, she advises: Don't wake up the guy next to you if you think he'll vote the wrong way, and always hoot when the OWLS (Organization of Women Legislators) makes an announcement.

Brown reveals how she got into politics: She had gone to town hall to register her dog Dixie, and discovered you could pay just $2 and sign up to run for the Legislature.

"What a deal!" she wrote. "That's cheaper than registering my dog. So I did!"

Pressed, Smith says he thinks he can

Just hours after New Hampshire's US Senator Bob Smith announced last week that he is in the running for the Republican nomination for president, he was one of the guests on CNN's nightly political brawl "Crossfire." After the show got the obligatory impeachment discussion out of the way, co-host Bill Press (from the "left," as they say in CNN land) honed in on Smith. Here's how part of it went:

Q. Do you seriously think you could beat Elizabeth Dole or [Texas governor] George Bush?

A. . . . absolutely.

Q. I mean seriously . . . what is the most important thing you've done . . . ?

A. George Bush and Elizabeth Dole never served in the Senate . . .

Plus, Smith retorted, he has been a congressman, a teacher and coach, father and husband. Still seeming to think Smith was pretty nervy to think he had a chance, Press asked how Smith could overcome a poll in his own state that put him eighth among potential GOP candidates. Smith had enough.

"No inaugural tickets for you," he quipped. Then it was time for more impeachment chat.

Faith in the public seems to be growing

The House minority leader, Peter Burling of Cornish, says, "I like it, I love it," about the idea of putting tax plans before the voters for a decision, and he has asked State House aides to draw up an outline on how the process would work. He predicts the House will be unable to agree on a single solution and will probably send "one or more" plans over to the Senate by Feb. 17. The biggest enemy? Time. Says Burling, "We're going to be obsessed about how we find a solution."

Veterans of the way it works in the Legislature caution that while the momentum for change may seem to be growing, there may be no big changes at all in the way the state raises money. The "cafeteria" option of upping existing taxes and fees (and maybe a little expanded video gambling) cannot be ruled out.

"It's amazing the number of times I've seen them pull a rabbit out of their hat," one observer said.

Stirrings from camp of Democrat Bradley

An e-mail from former US senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey circulated among New Hampshire Democrats after Bradley announced he had formed a committee to explore a run for the presidential nomination. Peter Howe of Rindge, a member of the Cheshire County Democratic Committee, sent the message to various party activists, including John and Mary Rauh of Sunapee. Both are Bradley fans but uncommitted.

The rap on Bradley of course is that the former basketball star and Rhodes Scholar is going to have a hard time trying to catch up with Vice President Al Gore when it comes to setting up the all-important New Hampshire campaign organization. Eric Hauser, a spokesman for Bradley's exploratory committee, would only say, "We are beginning to get active." We're waiting.