WEST LEBANON, Feb. 18 -- Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole kicked off his presidential campaign Saturday with a "town meeting" here attended by a capacity crowd of more than 250 people.
"I just feel I have to do this -- be president of the United States," Dole said at the Radisson North Country Inn.
The Kansas Republican, who failed to win the nomination for president in 1980 and 1988, said he feels more relaxed now than he did during his previous campaigns.
He talked about the Republican-controlled Congress as the "second chapter of the Reagan Revolution" and a major factor in his decision to run in 1996.
He said he hoped to be elected as a Republican president who would work closely with a Republican Congress. "Let's give it a shot," he said.
Dole also spoke about the significance of the New Hampshire primary.
"When you vote, you're probably voting for the people in Kansas [and] New Jersey," he said.
Dole, who answered audience questions, responded to a student question about Congress's plans regarding subsidized student loans for college tuition.
"We're not going to kill student loan programs," Dole said. "But we are going to insist that when you get a student loan and you go out and start making good money, you ought to pay the loan back."
Dole added that Congress would continue to reduce federal spending "from A to Z." He said cuts would be made in agricultural subsidies, zoological research and all other federal programs.
"The government can't solve every problem," he said. "We have to go back and re-prioritize where government has a role. There's only one area where the government should have the responsibility, and that's in defense."
Dole attacked President Bill Clinton's administration's $127 billion cut in defense spending.
Dole promised that as long as the Republicans controlled Congress they would not levy any new taxes.
"The thrust of my campaign is going to be: let's reign in the federal government," he said.
"Return the power to the states and to the people," he said, referring to the Constitution's Tenth Amendment.
Dole also made an appeal to the senior citizens in attendance. "There's a lot of juice left in our generation," he said.
Dole said social security benefits were not at risk under the Balanced Budget Amendment.
"Don't believe all the scare tactics the Democrats are throwing," he said. He said he wants to keep social security off the amendment so Congress can later look at the program to "make certain the benefits are going to be there for your children and your grandchildren."
Dole's visit here was the second stop on his three-day tour of New Hampshire. A Dole aide said Dole had no intentions of visiting Dartmouth anytime soon.
