March 5, 1999
Web posted at: 6:49 p.m. EST (2349 GMT)

ATLANTA (AllPolitics, March 5) -- Republican Elizabeth Dole personally confirmed Friday her plans to announce a presidential exploratory committee Wednesday, March 10, in Des Moines, Iowa. She also laid out her upcoming travel agenda.

After Dole makes her announcement in Iowa, she will travel to Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire and finally to her hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina, on Saturday. Mrs. Dole made the comments at a women's network luncheon in Atlanta Friday.

Dole's husband, former presidential candidate Bob Dole, will not be at his wife's side for her announcement or during her travels next week, CNN has learned. The former Senate majority leader is overseas representing the U.S. in the Kosovo peace process.

CNN has reported that the Dole campaign has bought media time in Iowa and New Hampshire. According to two sources inside the campaign, they have bought 30-minute blocks of time in each state, during which a 15-minute speech by Mrs. Dole will be played twice. The speech will air in the two states on Wednesday evening, and in some parts of Iowa on Thursday as well.

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 5) -- Two days before Gov. George W. Bush will formally and finally announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, CNN has learned the names of two key players who will be on that committee.

According to campaign insiders, Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Oklahoma) and Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Georgia) have signed on to the committee. Coverdell confirmed Friday he will be the Senate liaison for Bush's committee. Watts is the House Republican Conference Chair. Both are set to appear with Bush at his announcement on Sunday in Austin.

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 5) -- Possible Republican presidential candidate John McCain enjoyed a photo-op in Arizona Friday with former Education Secretary William Bennett. McCain advisers are reading the meeting as a sign the self-proclaimed virtues advocate may endorse Sen. McCain in the future.

In addition to Friday's appearance, Bennett and his wife are coordinating a Sunday night event in which McCain will receive an award. A McCain spokesman says, "Any candidate would be lucky to have Bill Bennett involved with them."

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 5) -- Vice President Al Gore attended three presidential fund-raising events in New York Thursday night, his first campaign fund-raisers outside the nation's capital. He first attended a reception with prominent members of the African-American community, followed by a sit-down dinner with people associated with the high-tech industry. He had dessert with approximately 50 Wall Street business leaders.

The Gore camp said the three events were attended by a total of 90 people, who committed $1.5 million for the vice president's presidential campaign. Gore campaign aides hope to raise between $3 million and $3.5 million by the end of March, when the first Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing period ends.

Gore had been scheduled to attend a major fund-raiser in his home state of Tennessee Friday night, but that has been cancelled due to the death Wednesday of his Tennessee fund-raiser, Alex Haught. Gore's only announced Democratic opponent, former Sen. Bill Bradley, also held a fund-raiser Thursday night in his home state of New Jersey, pulling in $1.5 million in pledges and contributions.

PORT BARRE, Louisiana (AllPolitics, March 5) -- On the third day of his third campaign for the White House, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan swept through a closed Fruit of the Loom underwear factory in Port Barre, Louisiana, Thursday with his populist pitch, lashing out at the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Buchanan claims NAFTA has cost 120,000 Americans their jobs, including 300 in tiny Port Barre when the underwear company moved its sewing operations overseas.

Buchanan also criticized the Clinton Administration for imposing 100 percent tariffs on European luxury goods in a dispute over banana quotas. The conservative firebrand argued the administration is protecting banana growers south of the border, at the expense of American consumers. "What is going on in America when you've got the government of the United States responsive to a fat cat who's got some farms in Central America?" Buchanan asked.

Three years ago, Buchanan knee-capped Texas Sen. Phil Gramm's presidential ambitions by winning the Louisiana caucus with the help of Christian conservatives and disgruntled textile workers. But this year conservative activist Gary Bauer is courting religious conservatives who dominate the state's GOP leadership and Louisiana's Republican governor, Mike Foster, who endorsed Buchanan in 1996, has become a buddy of Texas Gov. George Bush. Plus, analysts say, Buchanan's protectionist message is ringing hollow.

CNN's Charles Zewe and Jane Caplan contributed to this report.

Friday, March 5, 1999

• Idea for school flexibility tangled in competing agendas
• Lewinsky book may force investigation of Starr's office
• Poll: Bush tops Gore in hypothetical 2000 race
• Clinton wishes Lewinsky well
• Transcript: Clinton comments on Lewinsky book deal
• Poll: Public remains unsympathetic to Lewinsky
• Paula Jones' lawyers get lion's share of $850,000 settlement
• Clinton to nominate civil rights chief for Senate confirmation
• Sen. Connie Mack won't seek re-election
• 'Mob Mouthpiece' enters Las Vegas mayoral race
• Biography on Gore details struggles during impeachment
• Three-story Lichtenstein sculpture to go up in D.C.
• Democrats boycott Alabama Senate
• Idea for school flexibility tangled in competing agendas
• DeLay says he did not commit perjury in deposition
• Democrats hit GOP plan for fiscal 2000 budget
• Federal judge throws out Louisiana law on late-term abortion
• Monica's career may benefit from scandal
• New Hampshire takes step toward income tax
• Cohen's wife interviews Clinton
• Tripp demands apology from Moran

Election 2000 briefs
• Dole to announce exploratory committee next week
• Bush to add Watts, Coverdell to exploratory committee
• McCain looks for possible backing from Bennett
• Gore kicks off ambitious fund-raising schedule
• Buchanan stumps in Louisiana

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