Dole stumps for Grams in Mankato

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

MANKATO -- Former Kansas Senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole showed why he is starring on Comedy Channel these days Saturday at American Legion Post 11.

Now the chairman of President Clinton's Commission on Missing Persons, Dole spoke at a Republican rally for Senator Rod Grams, Second District Congressional candidate Mark Kennedy and First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht.

Dole told one joke after another.

"Be careful what you say to me, I am all wired up like Linda Tripp," he said.

The public address system was not working properly.

"I thought (Al) Gore invented these things," Dole said.

Dole came to Minnesota to urge Republicans and independents to support Rod Grams on Tuesday. Grams is losing in the polls to Democrat challenger Mark Dayton.

Dole was last in Mankato during Farmfest in 1976 under the Ford-Dole ticket.

"I announced at Farmfest that we were going to increase farm subsidies and got reprimanded by President Ford," said Dole. "He told me he was supposed to announce that because he was running for president."

Dole announced that next Saturday, the ground-breaking for the World War II Memorial will take place in Washington, D.C. -- finally -- 55 years after the event.

The memorial will cost $155 million. Congress paid the first $5 million and will cover the ground-breaking and dedication. The rest of the money was privately raised, according to Dole.

He said the memorial is for the people behind the scenes that did the jobs at home too, because everybody was on the same side in America.

As chairman for the President Clinton's Commission on Missing Persons, Dole has traveled to the Balkans, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Kosovo more than a dozen times during the past three years.

"We go there because 40,000 people just disappeared," said Dole. "Mostly Muslims and Bosnians."

One of the purposes of the commission is to identify human remains to bring closure to the war.

Dole visited a family several weeks ago in Pristina, Kosovo. There were six women and one man at the meeting.

"They told me there was a knock on the door on May 10, 1999," said Dole. "Twenty-five people were crammed into this little house, trying to live. All these people had were the clothes on their backs and their families."

All the women and children were ordered out of the house, leaving 11 men in the house.

The women were kept away for three days. When they returned, there was nothing but blood stains in the house.

Dole said the point of the story is that people in other countries have so much faith and respect for Americans in most countries of the world.

"When I hear people complain we don't have this or that, I get upset," said Dole. "We've got about everything. Plus liberty and freedom, which you can't put a price on. We haven't had wars coming into our countries."

He said that is why elections and voting is important.

"Not all politicians are alike," said Dole. "I've served with good people in both parties. I did many things with Hubert Humphrey on the agriculture committee. He always wanted lots of price parity.

"One day, we were talking about dairy products. I bought Hubert a quart of milk and told him to drink it before he spoke. Once he started speaking, it could take awhile. We were good friends. Lots of things happened across party lines."

Dole said George W. Bush was endorsed by the highest-ranking Democrat in Texas, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock, before he died.

"Why did he do it? Some of the Democrats were not very happy about it, but he knew Bush would work across party lines to solve problems," said Dole. "Whether is was prescription drugs, Medicare, agriculture or defense."

Dole said most anything that happens in politics that has any real merit has a bipartisan flavor.

He told a story in one of his political joke books, about Winston Churchill, who got in an argument one night when he sat next to Lady Astor.

"She got so mad at him, she turned to him in total desperation and said, 'if you were my husband, I'd poison your coffee.'

"He said, 'if you were my wife, I'd drink it."

Dole recalled one night in early 1997 in the Watergate Hotel, just after he lost the presidential election.

He saw lights all over the place, nudged his wife and told her there was a re-count.

Dole later learned that Monica Lowinski was his neighbor.

"I never realized all the potential for excitement in the neighborhood," he said. "I tried to call her a couple times but the line was always busy. The Watergate Hotel is an exciting place to live in Washington, D.C. Maybe Senator (Strom) Thurman will move in next door."