Will Any Woman Do? The candidacy of Elizabeth Dole.

• Author: Nichols, John
• Position: Presidential candidacy

Elizabeth Dole is a long way from becoming the first woman President of the United States, but she has already achieved a political breakthrough that some of her fellow Republicans say is nothing short of a miracle. If polls are to be believed, Dole has closed the gender gap.

In a series of late spring surveys, the former Nixon, Reagan, and Bush Administration appointee proved a favorite among the same women voters who tipped the balance to Democrat Bill Clinton in the past two Presidential elections. A new Gallup poll pegs Dole as the third most admired woman in America, after First Lady Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. And every recent national survey shows that, in hypothetical pairings, she maintains a solid lead over Democratic frontrunner Al Gore among women voters.

How does Dole do it?

Not by taking bold positions on issues of importance to the women's rights movement. Dole opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and extreme risk to the life of the mother. She recoils from the term "feminist." As Bush's Secretary of Labor, she battled against the Family and Medical Leave Act and other legislation backed even by moderate Republican women in Congress. And she regularly wins kudos from the same religious right leaders who have alienated female voters.

Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, sees Dole's success as an ironic consequence of the women's movement.

"We have been remarkably successful in communicating the importance of breaking down political barriers at every level," says Ireland. "Unfortunately, in an era where sound bites rule, we haven't been so successful in communicating the fact that not just any woman will do."

Dole is doing nothing to disabuse voters of the any-woman-will-do notion. She has spent the first months of her campaign shoring up support among voters who are inclined to like the idea of electing a woman President.

So far, Dole has dealt mostly in generalities. But the first woman in thirty-five years to seriously bid for her party's Presidential nod has distinguished herself from fellow Republican candidates by taking relatively moderate stances on issues such as gun control. GOP strategist Scott Reed says Dole is "attracting a coalition back to the GOP: a coalition of women and mothers."

On the stump, she appears to advocate a humane politics, promising "more freedom, more tolerance, more compassion." Unlike some of her hardline opponents, particularly Christian right activist Gary Bauer and commentator Pat Buchanan, she is quite comfortable reaching for a vague rhetorical middle ground with lines like: "We have seen real gains for minorities and women. And we must never go back. Not an inch."

There's plenty of evidence that the tactic is working. Dole draws larger crowds than any of the other candidates, and she runs second only to George W. Bush in national polls and in surveys of caucus and primary voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. Polls suggest she has a strong appeal among women in those states. Dole reinforces that appeal, slipping phrases such as "let's make history" into her speeches and joking, "I can remember a time when the very idea of a woman as the equal of her male political counterpart seemed as unlikely as ... well, the idea that a professional wrestler could be elected governor of an American state."

"I have friends who are ready to work for...