ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 1, 1996 TAG: 9611010052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
No more soft hotel beds for the night. No more gentlemanly day trips that end around dinner time. Starting at noon today, Bob Dole says he will be in perpetual motion - embarking on a 96-hour, nonstop campaign trip to try to win the White House.
``We think we just needed a little spice,'' Dole said. Campaign aides have already been instructed to find the music to ``Rock Around the Clock'' to begin playing all night long.
``In the homestretch of this campaign, I intend to take my message to Americans nonstop,'' Dole told a small rally Thursday at Florida International University in Miami. ``The last time I fought 'round the clock for my country was in 1945, in Italy. Beginning noon tomorrow, I will once again fight `round the clock for America's future. Ninety-six hours of nonstop campaigning.''
``I will give it all I've got,'' Dole vowed.
Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield said the 73-year-old Dole will nap on planes and buses, and perhaps get ``hygiene breaks'' for a few hours in select hotels from Friday to Tuesday, Election Day.
In addition to campaign rallies through the day, Warfield said Dole will campaign through the night. Midnight shifts at police precincts. Bakeries. Greeting factory workers at the plant gate. Some of it impromptu. Spontaneous.
``We'll be talking to real people,'' Warfield said, ``even if these people happen to be insomniacs.''
After campaigning all day today in Ohio and Michigan, for instance, Dole is scheduled to campaign at 1 a.m. in Detroit and 4:30 a.m. in Newark, N.J. Dole aides did not immediately say what the nature of the events would be. After another full day Saturday, Dole is scheduled to hold a 2:30 a.m. rally in Las Vegas and a 5 a.m. rally in San Diego.
Dole was clear on why he has chosen this exhausting course: ``I want to shake up this race in the last few days.'' He said he had been ``unable to engage'' voters, so he hopes this will get their attention. Aides disputed this was an act of desperation in a campaign that has trailed badly in the polls for months.
Dole's previous attempts to add ``spice'' included resigning from the Senate, embracing a 15 percent cut in income tax rates and plucking Jack Kemp out of the GOP wilderness as his running mate.
When asked by reporters whether he had enough underwear packed for the long march, Dole joked: ``We're going to stop at an underwear factory. All right. Here we are right here, only in America.'' And when asked whether he planned to shave, Dole said: ``Oh, yeah.''
Although Warfield warned that the marathon was flexible and subject to change, he said the long-distance run would include stops in 11 states: Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, California, New Mexico and Kansas. Warfield said the campaign hoped to add stops in four other states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Tennessee.
During the same period, Clinton is scheduled to campaign in 11 states. His longest day will be Monday, when he starts in New Hampshire and stops in Ohio, Kentucky and California before flying overnight to Arkansas for Election Day. In his 1992 campaign, Clinton ended the race with a 30-hour, 10-city trip.
The announcement of Dole's plans overshadowed his joint appearance Thursday morning with former President George Bush at a rally in Tampa. Bush and former President Gerald Ford are scheduled to campaign with Dole today in Ohio and Michigan.
In 1992, Bush was stunned that the country picked an untested baby boomer to replace him in the White House. At an appearance in the ornate - and half-empty - 1,000-seat Tampa Theater, Bush again sounded shocked that voters appear to be on the verge of re-electing Clinton, despite the ethical and fund-raising controversies during his first term.
``What matters to me now is the integrity of the White House,'' Bush said, standing before a photo of the White House. ``I believe in duty, honor, country. I believe in service. I believe in keeping the White House above partisan politics, away from these puny, terrible disputes we're seeing.
``And I know that Bob and Elizabeth can restore this decency and this respect.''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole turns to talkby CNBto an aide during his introduction at a campaign stop in Atlanta on
Thursday. color KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT