These Are Frustrating Days For The GOP

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 2) -- When Bob Dole left the Senate in mid-June, many Republicans hoped he would sharpen his message and close some of President Bill Clinton's double-digit lead in the polls.

Now there is some frustration that Dole may have frittered away that opportunity, while first trying to finesse the abortion split within the GOP and now stumbling into a needless controversy with his comments on nicotine and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

"We have a little uphill struggle now at the top of the ticket," says Ohio Republican Chairman Robert Bennett.

Few are panicking yet, with the election still four months away, and many voters are more fixated on summer and the 4th of July holiday weekend than politics.

But some GOP sources have told the Associated Press that there is concern that Dole will do badly this fall, and at least some Republicans would like to shift resources to close congressional races, in hopes of at least preserving the GOP's hold on Capitol Hill.

What makes it so maddening for the Republicans is that Clinton looks vulnerable. Surveys suggest Americans are deeply skeptical of the White House's explanations of the FBI files fiasco. The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll says 60 percent of Americans think the White House deliberately did something improper when they requested FBI files on prominent Republicans.

And uncomplimentary testimony about campaign contribution and government appointments is emerging from the second Whitewater trial, now underway in Little Rock.

This is round two for the Republicans doubters. In late April, some leading conservatives were already bemoaning Dole's chances. Values man Bill Bennett said he saw "very little enthusiasm" for Dole and Weekly Standard Publisher William Kristol wrote Dole "may lose badly."

These Are Frustrating Days For The GOP

Related Stories: