EATTLE - Elizabeth Dole brought her fleeting presidential hopes here yesterday to a highly influential GOP audience, one that would seem as sympathetic as any to her goal of making history by becoming America's first female president: The National Federation of Republican Women.
But the response she received from the 2,100 Republican activists at the group's 30th biennial convention was more respectable than impassioned - particularly compared with the star treatment given to Republican front-runner George W. Bush two days earlier.
''Elizabeth Dole is a fine person, but not the person we need at this time,'' said Mary Clare Anderka, a member of the federated women's group. ''This is not about getting a woman elected. It's about getting the right person nominated, and winning.''
Dole's visit once again demonstrated a continuing trend in the Republican primary as disparate GOP factions overlook their sympathetic favorites in the race and unite behind the one candidate they expect to have the best shot at the White House: Bush.
Recent opinion polls reflect the feelings illustrated at the federated women's convention. Dole joins all of the other GOP candidates in trailing Bush by at least 40 points. But most significantly for Dole, the surveys show women react to her campaign just as men do.
''We have the smallest gender gap of any candidate,'' said Dole's media director, David Manns.
If there was a gender gap, this is where it would show up. The federation is the nation's largest women's political organization, utilizing its 100,000 members in 2,000 clubs across the country to spread information on Republican positions and elect GOP candidates.
In her folksy, low-key speech yesterday, Dole briefly recounted the advances of other women in the worlds of business and politics, and drew mild applause with proposals such as filtering the Web sites accessible by students in schools.
But she seemed unsure how to raise the gender issue in her own campaign. Her staff placed leaflets on every chair, exhorting the women, ''Let's Make History!'' And she boasted that her campaign has brought more women into the political process, noting that 50 percent of her contributions are from women - nearly twice the average.
Her reply was ambiguous when reporters asked if she was making special efforts to attract women voters.
''My base is really men and women, people who are energetic and enthused and ready to work,'' Dole said. ''... But also many women who want to make history.''
