Dole Decides On Running Mate -- Kemp Appears To Be Favorite; Announcement Tomorrow

SAN DIEGO - Bob Dole said today he had settled on a running mate who was "probably an 11" on a scale of 10. A top Dole aide told former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp he was the likely choice and to expect a call from Dole tonight, Republican sources said.

In Kansas, Dole - the presumptive nominee for the Republican presidential nomination - said flatly he had not yet offered the position to anyone. "They are wrong," Dole said of reports he had already offered the job to Kemp.

"It's been offered to no one. Haven't made a single call," said Dole. "We'll do that later tonight."

But there were strong indications Kemp, 61, was atop Dole's list.

Dole said he would probably notify his intended choice tonight and proceed with plans to formally announce his running mate tomorrow in his hometown of Russell, Kan.

In the runup to Dole's decision, aides said Kemp was the favorite, followed by Florida Sen. Connie Mack, according to sources. Michigan Gov. John Engler and former South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell were described as in a second tier of prospects. Dole aides did not rule out a surprise pick but suggested all indicators pointed to Kemp.

Campaign sources said Kemp, an energetic campaigner who has had prickly relations with Dole over the years, had informed Dole campaign chief Scott Reed that he would accept the job if it were offered him.

Mack and Kemp are from a wing of the Republican Party with which Dole has often found himself at odds. During their House days, they formed the Conservative Opportunity Society with Newt Gingrich, now the House speaker, and Trent Lott, who replaced Dole as Senate majority leader.

Dole's choosing Kemp could be a quest for a Kennedy-Johnson redux, two polished politicians who set aside their personal animosity to recapture the White House.

Or it could be a ruse to throw off snoopy reporters.

Kemp is the man, after all, who once jested that Dole's library had only two books - for coloring. He also the waited until Dole had just about clinched the GOP nomination - and then endorsed one of his opponents.

For months, Dole has said he wanted a running mate with whom he would be comfortable. Now, trailing President Clinton by huge margins in all polls, Dole might change his mind.

Dole not only has been uncomfortable with Kemp, he has spent the last 16 years locked in an often-bitter feud with him, especially over taxes.

Kemp was an ardent tax-cutter and "supply sider" who thought tax cuts would partly pay for themselves through a growing economy, lessening the need to cut spending or raise other taxes. Dole thought otherwise.

But this week, Dole unveiled his own economic plan based in supply-side theory.

In the mid-1980s, however, things were different. Dole proposed a politically risky $300 billion package of spending cuts to ease the skyrocketing deficit, and persuaded the Reagan White House to go along. When Kemp and others opposed it, Reagan withdrew his support, and the bill never became law.

Dole was outraged, cracking that "Kemp wants a business deduction for hair spray."

Kemp responded: "In a recent fire, Bob Dole's library burned down. Both books were lost. And he hadn't even finished coloring one of them."

Dole and Kemp squared off in the 1988 campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, but it was Bush who attacked Dole's tax record during the New Hampshire primary.

Angela "Bay" Buchanan, the sister and campaign manager for conservative candidate Pat Buchanan, who has clashed with Kemp on trade and immigration issues, said Kemp would hardly be the first choice of the Buchanan brigades. Kemp's stance on immigration could complicate Dole's choice, because many Dole advisers hope to make illegal immigration a key issue in the debate with Clinton.

But Kemp also could bring some excitement to the Dole candidacy.

Kemp is a popular and well-known figure, a former football player who has run for president and taken on his party in defense of civil rights. He is liked in the black community for his fight to improve urban areas and public housing.

Mac Carey, president of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a think tank that Kemp co-chairs, said adding Kemp to the ticket would help Dole attract traditional Democrats in cities and minority communities.

"It could be kind of a jujitsu move politically - unexpected," he said. "You wouldn't expect Dole to take a direct move at Clinton's base."

William Kristol, editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine, said Kemp's nomination would be a shot in the arm to the Republican Party.

"He is a figure of national significance, which sets him apart from the other vice-presidential candidates," Kristol said.

But a Dole-Kemp ticket would bring a return to a more traditional president-vice president relationship "of suspicion and even hostility," Kristol said. "There would be tension between them," said Kristol. "But then, we are sick of all that lovey-dovey Clinton-Gore stuff."

Compiled from Associated Press, Knight-Ridder Newspapers and Washington Post.