ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300098
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Three weeks before New Hampshire's leadoff presidential primary, two new polls suggest that Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole leads among Republicans but could face a series threat from Steve Forbes if independents flood the GOP primary.
The surveys offered conflicting snapshots of New Hampshire's political terrain but agreed on one point: Forbes remains the most serious threat to Dole as the Feb. 20 primary draws closer.
Monday's campaigning made it clear the candidates share this view.
Dole shrugged off the polls and repeated his demand that Forbes, a multimillionaire publisher, release his federal income tax returns. He also suggested Forbes and his proposals were escaping serious media scrutiny.
``Somehow, they don't seem to bother him,'' Dole said in Iowa. ``They'd rather focus on Bob Dole, the front-runner.'' Of the polls, Dole said: ``We're not going to worry about numbers. We're going to keep plugging away and win Iowa and win New Hampshire.''
In New Hampshire, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm sharpened his criticism of Forbes, labeling him a ``Rockefeller Republican'' out of step with conservatives because he supports abortion rights and President Clinton's ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy, which allows homosexuals to serve in the military.
Forbes took the attention as proof he still held momentum, but also was careful to dampen expectations for an upset in Iowa or New Hampshire.
``Senator Dole must never be underestimated,'' Forbes told reporters. ``Just remember what people were saying about me three or four weeks ago.''
After a week in which he lost some ground in Iowa, one of the surveys showed Forbes was slipping in New Hampshire as well. That poll, by Manchester's American Research Group, showed Dole with 33 percent support among 455 likely Republican primary voters and Forbes with 16 percent, down six percentage points from an ARG survey a week earlier.
The ARG survey, conducted Thursday through Saturday, showed commentator Pat Buchanan third with 15 percent, followed by Gramm and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander at 7 percent. It had a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.
The second poll, by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, showed a statistical dead heat in which Forbes had 29 percent to Dole's 24 percent among 543 Republicans and independents who said they planned to vote in the GOP primary.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB