WORLD WIDE WEBER
REES, MATTHEW
World Wide Weber by Matthew Rees San Diego VIN WEBER IS THE INVISIBLE MAN of the Dole campaign. While he holds the lofty title of national co-chairman (along with 13 other people), he’s little...
...Weber hadn’t talked much with Dole since leaving Congress in 1992, but Dole called him in February 1995 and said he’d like to have him join the campaign...
...For the heretofore invisible Weber, once a finalist to replace David Gergen on the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, it means he’ll start getting more attention than he could have hoped for...
...And while neither side was totally satisfied with the outcome in San Diego, the staunchly pro-life Weber came out of the controversy unscathed...
...Yet Weber has quietly emerged as one of the three or four most influential advisers in the Dole campaign...
...A leading supplysider during his 12 years representing a Minnesota district in the House, Weber was an early advocate of forgetting Dole’s attacks on Steve Forbes’s flat tax and making a comprehensive tax-relief package the centerpiece of the presidential campaign...
...Weber has also cultivated good relations with top Dole advisers Bob Lighthizer and Sheila Burke, both of whom turned out to be surprisingly receptive to tax cuts during the internal economic debate...
...Because he’s held elective office, Dole is more inclined to listen to him and trust him,” says a campaign aide...
...And now that he has crafted a suitable compromise on abortion and helped produce a bold economic plan, his opportunities to influence policy and politics in the presidential campaign will only grow...
...When Dole remarked in June that he wanted the kind of tolerance plank in the platform that would satisfy pro-choice Republicans, it was Weber who soothed angry pro-lifers...
...In the event of a Dole victory, look for Weber to be offered a top cabinet or White House slot...
...Weber knows a lot about economics and, as a former elected official, spoke with authority on the political implications of the various options...
...To that end, he helped recruit a clutch of free-market economists to draft a pro-growth plan, then narrowed the group’s purview to deciding between across-the-board tax cuts and repeal of the Bush/Clinton tax increases...
...Similarly, it was no coincidence that Dole’s speech on education reform was delivered in Weber’s native state...
...Weber’s decision to get involved despite his numerous other commitments (he’s a lobbyist, vice-chairman of the conservative think tank Empower America, teaches at the University of Minnesota, and has two young daughters) was a belated thank-you to Dole, who had campaigned and raised money for him during his tough reelection fight in l986...
...Last week’s focus on tax reform and abortion underscored Weber’s prominent role...
...The surprise isn’t that Weber has assumed such a prominent role in a presidential campaign, it’s that it’s with Dole...
...The call came shortly after Kemp announced he wouldn’t run (Weber endorsed Kemp in 1988...
...We wanted the entire GOP chorus saying ‘Amen’ to the Dole plan,” says Weber, whose efforts culminated in the across-theboard tax-cut proposals announced on August 5. On abortion, Weber has been the campaign’s chief power-broker, mediating among and between pro-lifers and pro-choicers...
...That’s good news for Dole...
...His relationship with campaign manager Scott Reed dates back to Reed’s time as chief of staff to Kemp at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and when Donald Rumsfeld assumed a top position in the Dole operation two months ago, he insisted Weber be given a bigger role...
...While he holds the lofty title of national co-chairman (along with 13 other people), he’s little known outside conservative political circles and doesn’t make a single appearance in Bob Woodward’s campaign chronicle, The Choice...
...Most important, however, Weber has Dole’s ear...
...Absent that, he’s still thought of as a possible candidate for governor of Minnesota...
...Thus Dole went along with Weber and Rumsfeld’s suggestion that he go to Hollywood with Bill Bennett and praise some of Hollywood’s recent movies...
...Weber still isn’t at the campaign full-time and still doesn’t draw a paycheck from Dole, but that hasn’t handicapped him...
...Ann Stone of Republicans for Choice said, “I think Vin’s been fair,” while pro-life activist Gary Bauer told me, “Dole would be better off taking more advice from Vin Weber and less advice from people who shall remain nameless...
...During the 1980s, Weber and his House Republican allies (Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, Connie Mack, and Jack Kemp) frequently sparred with Dole because of his objection to reducing marginal tax rates...
Vol. 1 • August 1996 • No. 47
