Dan Quayle's campaign team insists that the former vice president is in the race for GOP nomination for president for the long haul, even though he had a dismal showing in the much vaunted, and criticized, Iowa straw poll.
''The guy is a fighter, always has been,'' Quayle's national campaign chairman, Kyle McSlarrow, told us last week. He said the New Hampshire Quayle team was buoyed by the turnout at events here the day after the Iowa poll, and he said Quayle's response to the Iowa numbers was ''Well? Just have to work harder.''
For sure. A poll of 450 New Hampshire Republicans conducted after the Aug. 14 Iowa event showed Quayle in fifth place with 6 percent of the vote. Texas Governor George W. Bush remained far ahead of the GOP pack with 40 percent in the survey, conducted by the American Research Group in Manchester. His closest competitor was US Senator John McCain of Arizona, with 16 percent; followed by commentator Pat Buchanan, the 1996 New Hampshire primary winner, at 8 percent; former Cabinet secretary Elizabeth Dole, at 7 percent; and then Quayle.
Millionaire publishing heir Steve Forbes, who reportedly spent $2 million in Iowa and came in second to Bush, got 3 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire survey, behind former ambassaor and radio talk show host Alan Keyes, with 4 percent. Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, who made a strong showing in Iowa along with Dole, got 1 percent in the New Hampshire poll.
The survey, conducted Aug. 15-17, had a margin of error of 5 percent. Fifteen percent of the Republicans polled were undecided.
One reason Quayle's people say they will carry on is that he can afford it. McSlarrow says the former vice president is eligible for $2 million in federal matching funds. Quayle is also fighting it out on the less expensive side of the GOP primary with conservatives who are focusing on grass-roots campaigning. Former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander, competing among some very pricey moderate-to-conservative candidates, dropped out last week when the Iowa results made it clear he didn't click with voters.
Quayle's national co-chairman, former governor John Sununu, said he spoke with Quayle three times after the Iowa vote and told him ''stick to the game plan.'' A big element of that, Sununu said, is for Quayle to be seen as much as possible in New Hampshire, preferably through free television coverage, to increase the voters' ''comfort level'' with him. ''Any day you're not on television is a day lost,'' Sununu said.
Gore aide misstates
position of his boss
Meanwhile, as the GOP was in a froth over the Iowa straw poll, a misstatement by an aide to Vice President Al Gore set off a minor flap about Gore's stand on Medicaid payments for abortions for poor women. The aide told an Iowa newspaper that Gore opposed Medicaid payments for abortions, when, in fact, Gore supports current law that allows payments for abortions for cases involving rape, incest or when the life of the mother is involved. Gore has also said he would sign legislation that would expand Medicaid coverage for abortions if it came up in Congress.
Not surprisingly, Democratic challenger Bill Bradley - who supports federal funding in all cases - called on Gore to clarify his stand. And last week in Concord, Bradley supporters, led by former congressional candidate Mary Rauh, questioned whether Gore was strong enough on the abortion rights issue. Rauh is former director of Planned Parenthood of northern New England.
''I want somebody who sill stand up and be there in the White House,'' said Rauh, who was critical of what she said was Gore's failure to lead on the expansion bill. She says federal funding issues also come up with members of the military and government employees, as well as for poor women who qualify for government assistance.
But Kate Michelman, the president of the National Abortion Rights and Reproduction Action League, said in an interview last week that she had ''absolute confidence'' in Gore's commitment to the issue. Early in his career in the House, Gore opposed federal funding for abortions. But he ''evolved,'' Michelman said, and has been ''deeply committed to the principle of freedom to choose'' for a long time. Bradley has always been a supporter of abortion rights, she said. So where's the flap?
Michelman said it looked more to her like a problem with Gore's staff making a mistake on a key issue, and not responding quickly enough to correct it.
P.S. In the American Research poll, Gore led with 46 percent compared to 29 percent for Bradley and 25 percent of potential Democratic voters undecided. The poll contacted 415 Democrats.
Survivors discuss
their breast cancer
M arylin Davis of Penacook says she hesitated when asked to join in a discussion at Concord Hospital last week with breast cancer survivors, including Bill Bradley's wife, Ernestine, a college professor who discovered she had cancer in 1992.
''My first thought was I don't want to get involved in a political brouhaha,'' said Davis, who is being treated now for breast cancer. But then she changed her mind.
''I feel for me, personally, it's important to get the word out,'' Davis said. ''I had cancer ... it is something you can survive.''
Ten breast cancer survivors and a handful of health care providers talked for about 45 minutes with Ernestine Bradley, who was making her first stop on a two-day swing through the state. She told them about her own surgery and chemotherapy, how she was pleased when her hair grew back with less gray. There wasn't a mention of her husband's presidential ambitions.
They shared concern about genetic testing for breast cancer traits and whether the results could jeopardize insurance coverage, and told stories about jobs at risk because of prolonged treatment and missed work hours. There was also talk about a bill now before Congress that would provide federal assistance to low-income women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. Right now the screening is free, but there's no money for treatment because these women don't qualify for Medicaid.
''It's incredible what women have to do to get the treatment,'' said Bradley, who like others knew of stories where cookie and bake sales were held to raise money for low-income women.
Nancy Ryan, chair of the New Hampshire Breast Cancer Coalition, said both Congressmen John Sununu and Charles Bass have signed on to the treatment bill.
Ryan said US Senator Judd Gregg was a cosponsor of the bill last year but this spring said in a letter to Ryan that he was more inclined this time to work on the overall issue of Medicaid and Medicare reform. As to Senator Bob Smith, Ryan said, ''Sadly Senator Smith has not supported very many of our legislative priorities.'' She said Smith has never supported the treatment act and ''I don't expect that he will.'' Neither Smith's office in Washington, nor Gregg's, responded to a request for comment.
Reformer `Granny'
sets a torrid pace
Talk about returning a favor. Consider walking about 20 miles in the sweltering August heat in Arkansas with ''Granny D,'' the Dublin, N.H., lady on a cross-country crusade for campaign finance reform. Granny, also known as Doris Haddock, had walked 40 miles to Concord to a fund-raiser back in 1998 for then 2d District congressional candidate Mary Rauh, a staunch backer of campaign finance reform. It was hosted by now presidential candidate Bill Bradley. So, Rauh, and her husband and former US Senate candidate John Rauh, caught up with Granny D after Bradley's recent New Hampshire visit, gave her a signed Bradley T-shirt, and walked with her for two days along a state road leading to Arkadelphia. ''She's a pistol,' said Mary Rauh about Haddock. And, as you might have guessed, Granny is no slouch either.
As Rauh tells it, Granny is up and out for breakfast at 5 a.m. at the local truck stop, and then it's on the road at 6 before the heat sets in. Often local members of the citizens lobby Common Cause go with her.
The first five miles were OK, said Mary Rauh about the trek, but ''mile six was awful hot.'' She made it eight miles each day and got to drive the air-conditioned Granny van: John Rauh kept up with Granny, who does 10 miles a day. She has finished 1,800 miles, and has 1,200 to go before she reaches Washington, D.C.
Hatch says he'd beat
Bush if they debated
US Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, standing alongside the gigantic mounted moose head in Republican headquarters in Concord, the obligatory photo spot for candidates, says that if he does nothing else with his underdog bid for the GOP presidential nomination, ''I'll make a better candidate out of George W. Bush.''
Hatch says he would like to get a chance to debate Bush and force him to refine his principles. ''But let me tell you, if we debate him, I'll win,'' said Hatch, a veteran member of the Senate and chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.
As he did during his first visit here, Hatch pointed out that the next president will probably get to appoint three new members of the US Supreme Court and 50 percent of the federal judiciary. ''There's nobody who understands that process more than me,'' he said.
If Bush has commandeered all the GOP fat cats, Hatch says he's going after the ''skinny'' ones. Hatch says he's running a ''people's campaign'' and looking for $36 contributions (George W. has $36 million) from all givers (hopefully for Hatch, 1 million of them).
In a moment of nostalgia, Hatch, genial and relaxed, recalled that he was with Ronald and Nancy Reagan in New Hampshire in 1980 (he thinks it was at the old Highway Hotel in Concord) the night Reagan won the New Hampshire primary. The do or die victory, after a loss in the Iowa caucuses to none other than George Bush the elder was critical to Reagan's White House campaign.
''I will never forget it,'' Hatch said, ''I will love this state forever.''
The uncommitted
have a night out
In the ongoing hunt for uncommitted activists, Hatch and his wife, Elaine, had dinner at C.R. Sparks in Bedford with state Senator Gary Francoeur of Hudson and his wife, Bea, one of the founders of the New Hampshire Women's Forum. Gary Francoeur is considered one of the most conservative Republicans in the state Senate.
Bea Francoeur, meanwhile, is still trying to drum up some Democratic speakers for the Women's Forum, which she insists is nonpartisan but admits looks distinctively Republican.
Bill Bradley has turned down an invitation to appear in September, Franceour said, and when she called Governor Jeanne Shaheen 's office, she was told her schedule was booked at the time. ''When I call Democratic campaigns it's like I have the plague or something,'' Franceour said last week.
Campaign says Dole
racks up invitations
S hort takes: Elizabeth Dole's New Hampshire campaign director, Jesse Devitte, says requests for Dole to speak at various events in New Hampshire have piled up since her third-place finish in the Iowa straw poll. She'll be back around Labor Day weekend along with other GOP candidates. Meanwhile, a list of state lawmakers just signed on with Dole includes Karen Hutchinson of Londonderry, Irene Messier of Manchester, David Poulin of Penacook, Marie Rabideau of Plaistow, and John Tate of Hudson.
Finally, if you've overdosed on presidential candidates already, how about Congress? You've got a chance to meet Democrat Len Foy at a fund-raiser today at the Lions Hall in Hudson. Foy is one of several Democrats who has expressed interest in running against Republican incumbent Charles Bass in the 2d District.
Got a tip or a comment from the campaign trail, state government or town hall? The Political Diary wants to hear from you at The Boston Globe/New Hampshire Weekly, 1650 Elm St., Manchester, NH 03301, or by e-mail at Kiernan@globe.com. Please include home and work telephone numbers.
