Three days in Seattle

Bush, Dole and Forbes come to kiss the ring of Republican women in the Emerald City.

By Anthony York

Oct 18, 1999 | This rainy capital of flannel shirts, grunge rock and caffeine, normally a hotbed of Democratic activism and fund-raising, was transformed into ground zero for the GOP presidential campaign over the weekend. More than 2,000 Republican women descended on the Emerald City for the biennial convention of the National Federation of Republican Women. GOP candidates George W. Bush, Elizabeth Dole and Steve Forbes all came to town to address the convention and help galvanize a voting bloc that has gone for Democrats overwhelmingly since 1984.

Republicans hope the 11-point gender gap Democrats enjoyed with President Clinton at the top of the ticket will fade into political history when Clinton does. But they're not taking that for granted. The appearance of Bush, Dole and Forbes showed the party plans to contest the Democratic nominee for the women's vote come next November.

There seemed little risk of losing any of the women at this convention. This was certainly not the "I believe you Anita" bumper sticker crowd. The 2,000 delegates and alternates in attendance, who descended on Seattle from all over the country, looked like soldiers in the Barbara Bush cavalry. These were country club women for the most part, with an average age of about 50, blue-blooded Republicans to the core. And like the formidable former first lady, they commanded respect, drawing three of the top-tier Republican presidential candidates to pay deference to the group's political muscle.

The national federation is the blanket organization for more than 2,000 local chapters with more than 100,000 members, according to federation spokeswoman Amy McKinley. Local federations form political action committees, organize phone banks and get-out-the-vote drives and throw fund-raisers for Republican candidates.

"I know how important you are to my campaign," Bush said Friday. "I know I would not have won my elections in Texas without the help of the Texas Federation of Republican Women."

This was natural turf for Dole, who has launched the first serious presidential run by a woman candidate and who has made gender outreach a touchstone of her campaign. But while there were a handful of "Elizabeth the First" T-shirts in the crowd, the response to Dole's curtain-closing speech Sunday afternoon was warm, but not overwhelming. Bush was clearly the crowd favorite.

Still, Dole gave a dynamic pep talk, which championed her campaign's efforts to reach out to people who normally do not participate in the political process, particularly women. While women donors typically account for less than 25 percent of all campaign contributions, Dole said Sunday that women are responsible for more than half of the money her campaign has raised to date.

Dole's speech constantly evoked her husband, Bob, the 1996 GOP presidential standard-bearer, and it often felt as if she were still campaigning for somebody other than herself. And while she vehemently denies the constant speculation that she is running for vice president, Dole's message fit nicely with Bush's standard "prosperity with a purpose" pitch. She decried "the deficit in our basic American values, the values upon which our country was built."

Forbes had a visible, loyal following among the crowd, and delivered his standard stump speech, which felt like a stand-up comedy routine focused on Washington-bashing and Al Gore jokes. He chided Washington pols for their "rooster way of governing. They think just because they cock-a-doodle-doo, the sun comes up."

The one-liner was part of Forbes' ongoing effort to position himself and his millions as the "alternative to the establishment," embodied, he said, in candidates like Bush, Dole and Sen. John McCain.

The crowd was right there laughing along with him as he chided the White House for "playing politics" over the nuclear test ban treaty vote, but fell markedly silent when Forbes outed himself as pro-life. But he recaptured his momentum by sprinkling his speech with buzzwords about American moral decrepitude -- Clinton, Columbine and the IRS -- and his laundry list of policy proposals including a 17 percent flat income tax, school vouchers and the right to choose a doctor. He received perhaps his biggest applause line evoking the Justice Department's handling of the Waco stand-off. "When I become president, I will restore integrity to the U.S. Department of Justice," he said.

Washington will be a key state for Forbes in February. Though it may not be on the map for him in a November election, it is one in a string of Western states with a handful of convention delegates and a strong conservative movement. "Forbes got the conservatives wrapped up here pretty early," said one state GOP official. "The battle in the primary and caucuses is between Bush and Forbes."

Next Page: Don't say the "A" word

• View blog reactions