Elizabeth Dole to leave Red Cross, clearing way for possible presidential bid
January 3, 1999
Web posted at: 5:36 p.m. EST (2236 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, January 3) -- Elizabeth Dole is expected to announce Monday that she will resign as president of the American Red Cross, clearing the way for a possible presidential bid in 2000, CNN has learned.
Close associates say the resignation could be part of a plan by Dole to make a presidential run. Her departure from the Red Cross would clear the way for her to test the political waters and put together a fund-raising plan.
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Dole was in Spencer, South Dakota, in June to view storm damage
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CNN also has learned that many of Dole's friends are encouraging her to run for president.
Dole has previously insisted that she had no plans to run. But in a September speech, she said, "I guess I've learned in this world never to say never."
Dole, 62, the wife of 1996 GOP standard-bearer Bob Dole, served in the Cabinet as Transportation secretary from 1983 to 1987 and as Labor secretary from 1989 to 1990. She has headed the Red Cross since 1991.
A Harvard-trained lawyer originally from North Carolina, Dole has never held elected office. But she has a wide variety of experience in the federal bureaucracy since coming to Washington in the mid-1960s, including serving five years as a member of the Federal Trade Commission before joining the Cabinet during the Reagan and Bush years.
She has long been mentioned as a possible GOP nominee for president or vice president. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in May showed her second only to Texas Gov. George W. Bush among likely 2000 GOP hopefuls.
A national movement to draft Dole into the race was launched last month by Republican activist Earl Cox, who in 1996 tried to draft retired Gen. Colin Powell for a White House run. An official kickoff rally for the draft campaign is scheduled for January 23 in her hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina.
As an evangelical Christian with deep Washington roots, Dole is seen by some Republicans as a candidate who could unite fiscal and social conservatives within the GOP. She has high name recognition and a reputation as a highly effective campaigner with a common touch.
At the 1996 Republican convention, she virtually stole the show with an Oprah Winfrey-style address where she came down off the podium and mingled with the crowd, extolling her husband's virtues. She poked fun at her own straight-laced image by donning a leather jacket and helmet and roaring onto the stage of the "The Tonight Show" on a motorcycle.
Correspondent Candy Crowley contributed to this report.
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