■ As Bob Dole kicked off first weekend of campaigning in New Hampshire with new Mr. Warmth image, Phil Gramm admitted he’d had tough first week in presidential race. Gramm’s comment at smash-hit Dallas fundraiser (which featured scintillating docu-bio, brought in a record $4.1 million, and had Charlton Heston as MC) was reference to media coverage that criticized his focus on economics (Wall Street Journal), discussed long-resolved disputes about his personal finances (U.S. News & World Report), and reminded conservatives he went along with 1990 Bush violation of “No New Taxes” (Washington Times columnist Sam Francis). But Stan Huckaby, GOP’s world-class expert on campaign financing, notes Gramm’s money advantage is not insignificant—since ’76, he who raises the most money the year before primaries wins nomination. . . . With Jack Kemp’s disappointing decision to drop out, some conservatives looking in House and Senate for a new candidate. Discouraged Kemp supporter and Calif. GOP activist Steve Merksamer told media party needs “Reaganesque leader” who preaches “tolerance and inclusiveness.” . . . New Hampshire write-in campaign for Colin Powell already under way, reports Boston Globe. . . . Meanwhile, listlessness of Bill and Hillary Clinton in recent appearances raises possibility of LBJ-style surprise announcement that one term is enough. Bill recently “fumed to advisors,” says U.S. News & World Report, that “I don’t care who runs this campaign, all you care about is who is up or down.”
■ Senate Banking Chairman Al D’Amato and Sen. Bob Bennett (R., Utah) hot on the trail of U.S. culprits in Mexican peso crisis and will call Treasury Dept, and International Monetary Fund aides to testify. Wall Street Journals, well-informed Paul Gigot says Treasury’s Larry Summers and Fund’s Stanley Fischer may have been influenced by pro-devaluation MIT economist Rudiger Dornbusch. . . . But GOP Banking Committee members may be paper tigers—they rolled over and played dead during recent testimony by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who got tough questions only from Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D., Md.). In testimony rife with references to “imbalances” and “unsustainable growth” in economy, Greenspan, who wrote first Clinton budget and loves D.C. power game, made it clear he feels Fed job makes him economic czar, not just Fed’s price-stabilizer.
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