Malcolm Jr Forbes

Jim Doyle is the kind of unabashed Patrick J. Buchanan supporter who wears "Go-Pat-Go" T-shirts, spends his free time working the phones to urge neighbors to vote for his candidate and--without hesitation--declares: "He says everything I think." But, as a former supporter of George C. Wallace, Doyle has no question about whether Buchanan should run as an independent or third-party candidate if Sen. Bob Dole wins the Republican nomination, as now seems probable.

Everyone dreams of falling heir to something: big bucks, a house in the hills, Arabian stallions, a car that runs. But few are ever born to great wealth, or have empires offered to them without warning or preparation. Here, some uncommon tales of cocooned tycoons who finally spread their wings. It's a plot line worthy of "Dynasty": A girl so young and so rich that hard work-- overwork-- seems an act of rebellion.

The six major Republican presidential candidates will hold their third debate tonight in Des Moines, just six weeks before Iowa kicks off the presidential voting season with its Jan. 24 caucus. MSNBC will broadcast the debate live from 5 to 6:30 p.m. PST. Conservative activist Gary Bauer, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, magazine publisher Steve Forbes, former diplomat Alan Keyes, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Sen.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday he would allow his own daughter to decide whether she would have an abortion, then changed his position as he found himself plagued by the same issue that has haunted George W. Bush. McCain, whose campaign hopes hinge on defeating Bush in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, was forced to spend part of his campaign day here clarifying his comments on the abortion question, saying he initially "misspoke."

In a low-key debate that allowed the underdogs a rare voice, the six Republican candidates for the presidential nomination tossed barbs Friday at front-runner George W. Bush, bashed the Clinton administration and revealed more about their character than their stands on the issues. The increasingly testy spat over tax plans and the candidates' varying views on campaign finance reform threaded its way through the hourlong debate, along with a paean to states' rights and a recurring theme of race.

If New Year's resolutions were easy to keep, there wouldn't be so many weight-watcher ads in the newspaper every Monday. Everyone may set out with the best intentions. It's just that making promises is usually a lot less arduous than keeping them. It's not that different for presidential candidates. More than they are usually given credit for, the ones who get to the White House do try to keep almost all the promises they make along the way.

In a mark of the rising temperature in the Republican presidential race, a leading conservative group has launched an independent television advertising campaign in New Hampshire attacking Sen. John McCain of Arizona over his support for campaign finance reform legislation. The ad, by the grass-roots conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, follows a series of attacks on McCain from Texas Gov. George W. Bush over the same issue in the last 10 days. Grover G.

Less than four weeks before the hotly contested New Hampshire primary, Republican front-runners George W. Bush and John McCain lashed out at each other over tax policy and campaign finance Thursday night in a debate that forced them to defend their credentials as conservatives and reformers. The debate highlighted two plot lines in the GOP primary: the increasingly combative race between Bush and McCain and the also-rans' increasingly urgent efforts to make themselves heard.

Orrin G. Hatch called for compassion toward gays and lesbians. John McCain mused about replacing the Panama Canal with a new passageway. George W. Bush defended the execution of criminals as young as age 17. On an unseasonably temperate New Hampshire afternoon, a college forum attended by four of the six GOP presidential hopefuls Sunday yielded one of the most wide-ranging and free-flowing discussions of the presidential campaign.

George W. Bush, picking up steam in recent polls, was the prime target of his Republican rivals Monday night in a wide-ranging but composed debate that began with a testy exchange about tax cuts. The Texas governor was attacked from the left by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who said his tax cut plan is too deep--and from the right by publisher Steve Forbes, who said Bush's tax cut plan is not enough.

Steve Forbes abruptly quit the presidential race Wednesday after spending more than four years and $76 million on a quest that helped shape Republican thinking but won him little personal following. The multimillionaire publisher made his decision after finishing a distant third in Tuesday's Delaware primary, which he won in 1996 during his first try for president. "I have no regrets except not winning," Forbes told NBC News. "But I think we did help change the agenda in America."

Like so many tourists traveling Interstate 95, the Republican presidential race stops briefly today in Delaware--not for the tax-free shopping but for the favor of a state with less nominating heft than Puerto Rico. For Steve Forbes, whose self-financed campaign is languishing after third-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, Delaware is, to borrow Wilmington's slogan, "A Place to Be Somebody."

In South Carolina last week, George W. Bush looked like an American tourist trying to make himself understood in Japan. Faced with listeners who don't speak English, the usual tourist impulse is to just talk louder--as if the problem were the volume, not the words. That's what Bush did in South Carolina. In New Hampshire, Bush had called Sen.

Presidential politicking took a nasty personal turn Friday as George W. Bush depicted John McCain as a phony and Bill Bradley suggested Al Gore had sold out his vote on the Persian Gulf War in return for publicity. As candidates caromed from the Midwest to the East and South, fallout from the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary continued to unsettle the contest, mostly on the Republican side. Texas Gov. Bush insisted he had no plans to retool his campaign, despite McCain's landslide win.

The presidential contenders traded their cudgels for spatulas, snowtubes and pep rallies Monday, as they almost all sought to end a bruising New Hampshire campaign on a positive note. After a weekend that saw pointed exchanges between the Republican candidates on taxes, and an even more acrimonious cross-fire between the Democrats on ethics and negative campaigning, the candidates Monday exhorted their followers at rallies heavier on inspiration than confrontation.

It was snowing Monday morning, so John Kubit took his 12-year-old white Toyota, which runs in any weather, picked up his grandson and headed to the New Hampshire Primary Pancake Flip for one last, good look at the presidential field. He got one last, good look all right, but not at the presidential field. Standing between this retired mail carrier and the men who would be president was a blockade of television cameras, boom mikes, bright lights and damp reporters five deep.

McCain's Charms GOP hopeful John McCain admits he is superstitious to the point of having lucky shoes, a lucky Hopi Indian feather, a lucky pin and a tradition of going to the movies with his wife, Cindy, on election days. The McCains and their children planned to rent a video or watch a pay-per-view movie today at their Nashua, N.H., hotel. Gore: Use or Lose Al Gore detailed his exercise regimen Monday during a morning radio interview.

From the notches in the north to the suburbs in the south, New Hampshire was alive Sunday with the sounds of stumping, as seven would-be presidents--locked in a pair of tight contests--swarmed the state 48 hours before its make-or-break primary. Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley traded some of the sharpest barbs of their increasingly contentious campaign. Bradley accused the front-running Gore of jumping "into bed with special interests." Gore charged Bradley with lying to boost his prospects.

Pigskin Politics Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore found themselves in rare agreement Sunday when it came to their rooting interests in the Super Bowl. But even then, the cut-and-thrust of politics inevitably intruded. Earlier in the week, Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said the Texas governor would be pulling for the "Houston Oilers" in the big game, a reference to the former home of the Tennessee Titans.

In the past few presidential elections, Larry Howard has backed--in succession--Democrat Walter F. Mondale, Republican George Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton (twice). This year, after teeter-tottering between Republican John McCain and Democrat Bill Bradley, Howard has decided to support Bradley in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. His serial loyalties may confuse some, but to Howard it's simple. "I've always voted more for the person than the party," says the affable 68-year-old artist.