CAN LIDDY SAVE BOB'S CAMPAIGN?

By MICHAEL DUFFY

Bob and Elizabeth Dole save Sunday mornings for reflection, reviewing one week and surveying the next. The weekend before last, over brunch at their Watergate apartment with Bob's daughter Robin, the Doles had plenty to sort through. The night before, comedian Al Franken had acidly observed that the only voting bloc Dole was winning at the moment was agribusiness executives. Elizabeth Dole turned to her husband and said he needed to make some changes. It was time, she said, to put some "adult supervision" into place at a campaign peopled by aides in their middle 30s, many of whom have never run a general-election campaign. Dole grasped her point immediately, but his response was characteristically terse. We had better, he replied, "get some adults around there."

Telling one's husband to cut the lawn and seeing it done are two different things. Five days after Elizabeth's suggestion, nothing had changed. That's becoming a Dole campaign pattern--promises without follow-through. (Dole talked about convening some wise elders two months ago but dropped that ball.) This time, it wasn't clear from the family meeting who would select the new broom or carry out this housecleaning. Nor did Dole and his wife discuss any names. Instead something worse happened: news of the Doles' grumbling spread through Republican circles, setting off a round of maneuvering and speculation about whether Dole, a man who has normally resisted taking advice, could find someone to impose order on his sometimes chaotic bid for the presidency. Explained a campaign official: "Dole will do what Dole does, retreat to the Senate and think about it for a while."

Elizabeth Dole is joined in her push by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour, who would like the candidate to name someone shrewd, trusted and sporting enough to try to coordinate Dole's decisions as majority leader with the demands of a tough campaign against Bill Clinton. Party leaders suggest that only a few Republicans have the stature to go toe to toe with Dole: former South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell, former Minnesota Congressman Vin Weber and former Reagan chief of staff Kenneth Duberstein. But there are two problems: Dole has always jealously guarded that double portfolio; and none of these men appear to want the job--unless, in Campbell's case, it comes along with an offer of the vice presidency.

Neither Dole nor his wife is said to be unhappy with the performance of campaign manager Scott Reed, according to aides. Reed, whose low-key style has helped him earn and keep Dole's trust, has shepherded his balky candidate through the difficult primaries, but has been slow to put a strategic framework on the general-election campaign. Sensing the boss's flickering fuse, Reed tried last week to enlist some graybeards who could give Dole what he wants--and still leave Reed firmly in control. But Reed's group looked like a Who's Who of Washington veterans and influence peddlers: former Senators Paul Laxalt and Warren Rudman and lobbyists Tom Korologos and Bill Timmons.

By last week, while many senior Republicans were rooting for Mrs. Dole's plan, they were also beginning to wonder whether she has enough influence with her husband. "I think that Bill listens to Hillary," said a campaign official. "I'm not sure Dole listens to anyone."

--By Michael Duffy