DOLE MAKES HIS CASE FOR PROP. 209 : STATE'S AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAMS CALLED INEQUALITY.

Byline: Adam Nagourney The New York Times

Bob Dole declared Monday that 32 years of civil rights efforts had led down a ``blind alley in the search for equal justice.''

He said the government's sole obligation should be to guard against explicit discrimination and provide assistance based on economic status, but not race or sex.

``We cannot fight the evil of discrimination with more discrimination, because this leads to an endless cycle of bitterness,'' he said in a speech in San Diego. ``We must fight discrimination with equal justice and increasing opportunity.''

Dole made his remarks to explain his support of an initiative on the California ballot Nov. 5 that would prohibit state and local affirmative action programs.

The speech had the immediate political goal of linking Dole's political fortunes to an initiative - known as Proposition 209 - that is doing well in polls in a state where Dole has anchored his presidential hopes. Clinton opposes the initiative.

As he spoke, Dole went much further than merely attending to immediate political tactics, offering his most explicit and extensive discussion of his opposition to quotas and racial preferences.

He described how his own views on the subjects had changed from the 1960s, when he voted for many of the measures that he now believes were ineffective or misguided, to last year. Then, in one of his last acts as a U.S. senator, he proposed legislation to outlaw federal affirmative action programs based on race and sex. The measure was ultimately shelved by fellow Republicans.

``We believe it's wrong to use quotas, set-asides and other preferences that serve only to pit one American against another American,'' Dole told an overwhelmingly white, invitation-only audience that had been assembled by local Republican organizers. ``The real focus should be on helping citizens who are economically disadvantaged, to provide assistance based on need, not on skin color.

``A Dole administration will try to be guided by certain basic principles,'' he said. ``We will not discriminate by race. Discrimination is wrong. We will not discriminate by race. We will defend a vision of individual equality in Congress and the courts, because individuals matter more than racial categories.''

Dole's speech Monday came amid signs of turmoil within the Dole campaign about what to do and where to go. Dole is known for taking control of his campaigns when things turn bad, and by all indications, that has occurred as he enters the last week of the campaign.

By contrast, though, Dole's speech Monday was noteworthy in its focus: After a weekend in which Dole has ricocheted from attack to attack on the president and the media, he devoted 30 minutes to a sober and tightly argued presentation of his view on affirmative action.

Dole left out the ever harsher criticism of Clinton and the media that have become staples of his speeches. But he returned to those themes in an interview with CNN, saying that there is a ``little tilt to the left'' among news organizations and, as he has for the past several days, singling out The New York Times for special criticism.

``They hammer us on a daily basis,'' he said. ``We make a major speech, they bury it back in Section D. They put a front page story that Bob Dole and Jack Kemp didn't get along together.''

Dole argued that his support of the California initiative was a logical extension of his support in 1964 of the Civil Rights Act, for which he voted as a House member and which barred discrimination in public accommodations, employment and programs that receive federal support.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) Bob Dole is backed by actress Bo Derek and Rep. Robert Dornan in Anaheim.

Associated Press