DOLE ENLISTS POWELL TO WOO WAR VETERANS.

Byline: Robert A. Rankin Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

With retired Gen. Colin Powell at his side, Bob Dole told a cheering audience of war veterans here Tuesday that he would raise defense spending to assure America's military superiority.

Faulting the Clinton administration for neglecting military modernization, cutting defense and bowing before the United Nations, Dole said if he was elected president he would pursue peace by building strength.

``If America is prepared to fight many wars and greater wars, and any wars to come, then maybe we will fight fewer wars and lesser wars and perhaps no wars at all,'' Dole told the Veterans of Foreign Wars annual convention.

Echoing Ronald Reagan in 1980, Dole insisted that he can raise spending on defense, cut taxes and balance the budget without hurting programs dear to veterans, simply by exerting ``presidential will.''

``If you've got it, you can do it, and I've got it, and I'm going to do it,'' Dole said emphatically.

To those who doubt that, Dole said his response was the same as the reply Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe gave in World War II to a German demand that he surrender: `` `Nuts.' That was his response and that's my response,'' Dole said to cheers.

The GOP candidate, criticized only weeks ago for stumbling through speeches, displayed growing confidence at the podium. His voice was strong, his pace measured as he read his 31-minute address from TelePrompTer screens that he formerly disdained.

Powell lent his prestige and vast popularity to Dole and running mate Jack Kemp in a surprise appearance here, his first on the campaign trail. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff limited his remarks to seven minutes of mostly vet-bonding banter - ``you're my buddies, you're my fellow GIs'' - while hailing Dole both for his military service and his commitment to equality.

``He proudly wears the purple heart,'' Powell observed of Dole.

Noting that talk of ``inclusion'' for minorities ``is the buzzword of the week,'' Powell said of Dole, ``but I know the man from Kansas, and I know he means it.''

Asked by reporters about rumors that he would become Dole's secretary of state, Powell dismissed them. ``We haven't had any such discussion. Anything's open, but right now the more important thing is to get this team elected.''

Dole, a 73-year-old man whose character was forged in the fires of World War II, when he suffered crippling wounds, wore a VFW cap from Kansas Post 6240 as he spoke. It bore a red tag labeled ``life member.'' And he won heartfelt applause when he cited the VFW slogan to the several thousand delegates, most of whom wore similar caps.

``What does the VFW say? `We'd do anything for this country

. . . I'll bet there's not a person in this room who wouldn't be willing to risk their life one more time to keep America free,'' Dole said.

Reaching out to younger veterans, Dole dared twice to recall how those who fought in Vietnam were spurned by many of their countrymen, though not by Republicans like him.

Yet he insisted that ``it's not about politics. It's not about Republicans and Democrats. It's about America. Nobody asked me when I was in the hills of Italy if I was a Democrat or a Republican,'' Dole said, adding: ``If I had known then what I know today, I'd have probably said I don't belong to any organized party,'' drawing laughs.

But soon he was faulting Clinton for allowing military pay to fall 13 percent below comparable civilian salaries, and he said many military families now rely on food stamps.

``That should not happen if you wear the American uniform,'' Dole said.

The Pentagon estimates that fewer than 5,000 military families would be eligible for food stamps if the formula for giving them out were adjusted to reflect the value of military housing.

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Photo: (Color) GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole is joine d on stage by running mate Jack Kemp and Gen. Colin Powell.

AssocNiated Press