russell, kansas to the people who had known him from his birth there in 1923. world war ii took dole from kansas to italy and just before the end of the war nazi machine gunfire shattered his upper body and destroyed his right shoulder. about 11 months before i could feed myself. i think i could have done to be honest about it 8 months but the nurses were very attractive. [laughter] after recuperation russell elected dole to county prosecutor and in 1961 its voters sent him to house of representatives and reelected him there four times. in 1968 dole ran for senate and won and spending 3 decades in the u.s. senate. he became the senate majority leader in 1984 with self-deprecating whip he established himself as tireless power broker, pragmatic and able to work out compromises with
reporter: after his recuperation, russell elected dole to four terms as county prosecutor, and in 1961 its voters sent him to the house of representatives and reelected him there four times. in 1968 dole ran for senate and won, spending the next three decades in the u.s. senate. he became the senate majority leader in 1984 within aacerbic and often self-depracating wit, he established himself as a tire theless power broker, pragmatic and able to work out compromises with democrats. in 1976 presidential candidate gerald ford had selected dole as his running mate. after their defeat, dole saw his own nomination for president unsuccessfully in 1980 and 1988. but in 1996 he decided to try again. he resigned his senate seat to focus on the campaign. the new season before we make this moment far less the closing of one chapter than the opening
flew late last night from wisconsin. landed here in iowa. he is doing three events. we had tornado sirens on our way in here actually. it sounds like the weather is passing and this event is likely to go on. what is the impact of this endorsement from bob dole? reporter: to have this on veteran day is something the campaign is proud of. dole ran against his father for the republican nomination in 1980 and 1988. on the one hand it is definitely something that helps solidify bush as potential establishment candidate but does under score the generational divide between bush and dole and the establishment of the republican party and marco rubio who has been trying to make the generational argument. voters do like to go to the future. there is a little under current there. one more thing to watch. you did talk on this a little bit in terms of jeb bush being a
he said some derogatory thing about the opposition or mr. romney s supporter hes. tough stuff. it will go right down to the wire here and today mitt romney has gotten two big boosts. the des moines register which is known by republicans to be a fairly liberal magazine endorsed mitt romney over newt gingrich and criticized gingrich for being an unreliable leader who would have a difficult time ending the partisan rift and gridlock in washington, d.c. and bob dole has also endorsed mitt romney and that is significant for a couple of reasons. one, bob dole won the iowa caucuses twice. a veteran here and much beloved. and two, mr. dole worked with newt gingrich in the house of representatives when gingrich of the speaker of the house and he was the senate majority leader in 94 and 96. and when dole ran against bill clinton some of the toughest attacks on bob dole were when
gingrich making the rounds on the sunday talk shows after picking up an endorsement from herman cain. and dole called gingrich a one man band, who has ideas, quote, are off the wall, end quote. and as you know dole ran for president back in 1996 and lost to bill clinton. fox news chris wallace asking gingrich about dole s comments. we tried a moderate in 1996, and he couldn t debate bill clinton effectively and he lost. we tried a moderate in 2008. he couldn t debate barack obama effective and we lost. i think if we nominate a moderate today, the gap between romneycare and obamacare is about that big and it will be hard for him to defend himself. taking a few jabs at gingrich and then shifting focus, mostly criticizing president obama. on my day one i will repeel obamacare and get back to free