US election: Bob Dole urges Mitt Romney to confront Republican party right wing

The London Daily Telegraph ^ | August 23, 2012 | Jon Swaine, The Daily Telegraph

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Bob Dole, the last Republican to challenge a Democratic president, has urged Mitt Romney to confront their party's Right wing and likened the Romney-Ryan ticket to his own ultimately unsuccessful partnership with Jack Kemp in 1996.

Mr Dole, a former Kansas Senator defeated by Bill Clinton 16 years ago, said the party should follow his example of "mainstream" Republicanism and become more appealing to ethnic minorities and young people to secure its future.

"We have got to be open," he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "We cannot be a single-issue party or single-philosophy party". He added: "There's a big split in our party. There's this undercurrent of rigid conservatism where you don't dare not toe the line".

The intervention from the Republican elder statesman comes after Todd Akin, an ultraconservative Missouri congressman, hijacked Mr Romney's preparations for the party's convention in Florida next week with his controversial remarks on abortion and "legitimate rape".

Mr Dole, now 89, disclosed that he had advised Mr Romney on running for president during a meeting at his Washington office in November. He said the former Massachusetts governor showed "flexibility" and a willingness to forge the type of bipartisan deals rejected by current Republican leaders in Congress.

He conceded that the presidential hopeful, who has an estimated $250 million (£160 million) fortune, had struggled to charm American voters still suffering from economic woe...

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Another bad idea....No thanks .... Bob had his chance and did not deliver....