A Straddle Into Irresponsibility; "The deficit has not been a priority for President Bush."
If Bob Dole had been elected president in 1988, dealing with the federal deficit would have been his top priority, and there's little doubt in my mind it would be under control by now.</br></br>The deficit has not been a priority for President Bush, except for a brief period in 1990, and so it has ballooned from $154 billion to $400 billion a year. Given the course of his campaign so far, there's every reason to expect more of the same if he is reelected.</br></br>The Post rightly honors Dole as one of a small group of senators who have courageously fought to eliminate the deficit over the years. And he really paid a political price for his courage in the New Hampshire Republican primary of 1988.</br></br>Dole came into New Hampshire as the front-runner, leading in the polls and having beaten Vice President Bush in Iowa. The vice president actually ran third in Iowa, behind both Dole and the Rev. Pat Robertson.</br></br>Bush came out swinging in New Hampshire. He ran TV ads unfairly charging that Dole would increase taxes, simply because that was among the options Dole felt a president shouldn't categorically rule out. "Senator Straddle," the ads called him.