Elizabeth Dole `to run' for president

WASHINGTON was abuzz with speculation yesterday that Elizabeth Dole, the 62-year-old wife of the former Republican vice-president, Bob Dole, was preparing a bid for the Presidency in the year 2000 - one of very few women to embark on a presidential race.

Mrs Dole, who was a member of the cabinet under Ronald Reagan as transport secretary and George Bush as labour secretary, was expected to resign as President of the American Red Cross, a post she has held since 1991, with a break in 1996 to support her husband's - failed - presidential run.

Mrs Dole has hitherto discouraged reports that she might stand herself, despite strong backing from some sections of the Republican Party, including in her home state of North Carolina, and her husband's barely concealed ambitions on her behalf. He has joked: "I've still got a chance to get to the White House, and that's if Elizabeth runs for President."

And while her own statements have played down the likelihood that she would run, she has never ruled it out and the high profile she has pursued recently, including a much- publicised trip to Central America after Hurricane Georges, suggested she could still be tempted.

Her immediate plans include trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, two states considered key to any presidential run because of their early party primary contests.

While few in Washington believe Mrs Dole to be a credible candidate for the presidency, she has been widely canvassed as a possible running mate for George W Bush, the Governor of Texas and son of the former president. He is much-fancied should he decide to run.

That raises the prospect - not as dismal to Republicans, apparently, as experience might suggest - of a second Bush-Dole presidential ticket for the year 2000.

The only candidates to have filed formally to start fund-raising for the next presidential contest are, on the Republican side, John McCain of Arizona, and on the Democratic side, Vice-President Al Gore, who filed papers last week, and Bill Bradley of New Jersey. John Ashcroft of Missouri, a right-wing Republican, is expected to announce his candidacy shortly, but Mr Bush is reportedly still undecided.

Mrs Dole, though often described as a "Southern belle", has spent 25 years in government and is the only woman to have held two US cabinet posts. She appears regularly in lists of "most admired woman" in America. Last year she was third, behind Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.

But perhaps her most populist step so far was her willingness to discuss her husband's treatment with Viagra, the impotence drug. Mr Dole had revealed that as a former sufferer from prostate cancer, he had been among a trial group for the drug. Mrs Dole decorously confirmed its positive effects on her marriage.

With Bill Clinton's two election victories and his continued popularity widely attributed to his support from women, many Republicans acknowledge that a more female-friendly ticket could improve their chances.