Iowa Caucus History: Bob Dole's Battle with the Conservative Right in 1996

Kansas Senator Bob Dole, a World War II veteran, was in the political fight of his life in 1995. The Republican “establishment's” popular choice for the nomination, Dole was under siege from a band of outsiders, some fueled by personal wealth like Steve Forbes, others fueled by increasingly conservative rhetoric. Although Dole would win the 1996 Iowa Caucuses, much of the nation's attention was focused on the strong showing and conservative surge of Pat Buchanan.

Dole: I think there was a little more movement to the right of center. I thought I was a conservative. I think third in supporting Ronald Reagan. But to some that wasn't enough.

Bob Dole, a Washington politician. The official congressional record documents Bob Dole's vote that increased his million dollar tax-paid pension.

Dole: I've been called a $10 million man. I've taken $10 million worth of assaults with negative ads. And if I was as bad as the ads say, I wouldn't vote for myself.

Kansas Senator Bob Dole, a World War II veteran, was in the political fight of his life in 1995. Finally, the establishment's next in line for the nomination, Dole was under siege from a band of outsiders, some fueled by personal wealth like Steve Forbes, others fueled by increasingly conservative rhetoric.

Dole: I respect my opponents, even those who spend millions of dollars in this state bashing Bob Dole. I don't know whether I respect them as much as I do others.

Dole: After having won Iowa in '88 and then if I lost it in '96, it was my view that would be the nail in the coffin, a big one.

This crowd here is evident, is building, then we can shake them up nationally and I can go onto New Hampshire and I think we can beat them all.

Dole: I think I stayed the same way except on the abortion issue. Buchanan was way out there on abortion.

Kay Henderson: The establishment of the party were sort of incredulous at Pat Buchanan. Many of them considered him part of the establishment having worked for Richard Nixon, having helped craft the Nixon message, that here was a guy who was going around the state of Iowa campaigning as an outsider.

Let me talk about the Iowa Straw Poll, which ought to be indicted. As I was driving up there to Ames, you're coming up that road, we got caught in traffic. We're supposed to get up there early, we got caught in the traffic. I look ahead of me, there's all these buses with Kansas license plates on them. Bob Dole's Iowa constituents coming in from Kansas. So I said, this is going to be a rough day. But there was a large crowd for Gramm and a huge crowd for me. And I said, this is between me and Gramm, us and Gramm. And so what happened when they counted them all?

Texas Senator Phil Gramm emerged as a front-runner after his upset at the Iowa Straw Poll tying republican favorite Bob Dole.

Gramm: We are going to win this nomination and beat Bill Clinton.

Buchanan: And did you know that Bob Dole and Phil Gramm tied exactly with the same number of votes in the Iowa Straw Poll? We had to laugh about that that night, I'll tell you.

In the months between the Straw Poll and the 1996 Iowa caucuses, Gramm's hold on the conservative base began to slip. In the final days before Iowa, Buchanan was rising and on Dole's heels.

Dole: In fact, we wondered that night for a while whether I was going to be first or second.

Dole would win Iowa, but by the narrowest of margins, 26% to Buchanan's 23%. The political nail in the coffin was delayed and Dole would outlast in an otherwise year of the outsider, leaving Buchanan to question, what if?

Buchanan: There's no doubt about it if I had gotten three more points in Iowa or four more points in Iowa, Bob Dole would not have been the nominee, I would have beaten Bob Dole for the nomination, because I did beat him in New Hampshire.

Dole: I thought '96 would be a good year, but as I look back on it '88 should have been my year and maybe I shouldn't have been a candidate in '96.