DOLE MAKES IT OFFICIAL : GOP HOPEFUL CALLS KEMP A VISIONARY.

Byline: Katharine Q. Seelye The New York Times

Bob Dole returned Saturday to the spot where he began his political career more than 40 years ago, to present to his hometown and his party the man he hopes will help him finally win the White House, Jack Kemp.

After rainy, leaden skies cleared in time for their appearance, Dole stood before an enormous American flag, side by side with an ebullient Kemp, and proclaimed what the rest of the world already knew: That he had chosen the 61-year-old former congressman from Buffalo and sometimes rival as his running mate.

To a crowd of about 2,000 people gathered here outside the courthouse, where Dole launched his first political campaign in 1951, then started his own unsuccessful vice presidential run 20 years ago, Dole pronounced Kemp ``a man of unlimited talent, energy and vision, an American original.''

He added: ``I've been saying for weeks I wanted a running mate who rates a 10. Someone who believes in the same values I believe in. Someone who is ready to fight the battles I will fight. Someone who has courage, integrity and character. I was looking for a 10, and I found a No. 15, which is the number Jack wore while playing for the Buffalo Bills.''

Kemp in turn called Dole a ``hero,'' praised his ``stature'' and called his agenda ``hopeful'' and ``inclusive.'' He added: ``We need someone who will fight for his principles, who loves America, knows what it means to sacrifice for others.'' He said Bob Dole was that man.

Both stressed that the Dole-Kemp ticket would press for tax cuts while ``not leaving anyone behind.'' Dole said, ``Jack and I are going to work side by side with the Republican Congress to restore the American dream to every citizen.''

Kemp, whose longtime concern about racial matters made him appealing to a campaign trying to broaden its base, quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and talked about an expansive party that lifted people up. ``No one will be left behind, and no one will be turned away,'' he promised. ``Our goal is not to win but to be worthy of winning.''

The appearance, complete with a balloon release, waving placards, band music and cheering crowds, was designed as a crisp and upbeat send-off before the two men go on Sunday to San Diego, where the Republican National Convention convenes Monday to formally endorse them as the party's ticket.

There was an awkward moment or two when the habitually verbose Kemp went on about twice as long as the five minutes he promised he would speak - and four minutes longer than his senior partner - leaving Dole smiling gamely and fidgeting on the stage behind him.

Before the ceremony, Scott Reed, Dole's campaign manager, said that Kemp was chosen because he was ``on the leading edge of Republican ideas and policies, he's from California,'' and a ``leader in tax-cutting ideas,'' meaning he could be an avid salesman for Dole's economic plan, which involves 15 percent across-the-board tax cuts.

That, of course, is one of the chief ways in which he parts company with Dole, who built his reputation advocating a balanced budget, not cutting taxes.

There was considerable talk here this morning about how the two would reconcile their many differences, which have ranged over the years from disputes over policy issues - including welfare, immigration and affirmative action, not to mention tax cuts and balancing the budget - to a prickly personal relationship.

A few years ago, Kemp, who once boasted of having 1,600 books in his suburban Maryland house, said that Dole's library had burned down and ``both books were lost - including one that had not been colored yet.''

But aides to both men took pains Saturday to suggest this was ancient history. ``I've learned a very basic rule about politics,'' Reed said. ``Politics is about the future.'' He said that Dole was obviously aware of their differences, ``but that doesn't bother him.''

``The bottom line,'' said Charles Black, a strategist for Kemp in 1988 and now a senior adviser to him, ``is whatever Bob Dole is for, Jack Kemp is for.''

Pressed as to whether Kemp understood that the vice presidential slot was ``No. 2'' on the ticket, Reed said that the former quarterback ``told me he understands, he told the senator he understands, and I think what you'll see today is a lot of understanding.''

When Dole called Kemp from Kansas on Friday night at 10:06 p.m. to tell him he wanted him on the ticket, he related a story about his own experience as No. 2 to President Gerald Ford 20 years ago. He said that one day in Minnesota he had made a policy pronouncement about price supports. When Ford got wind of it, he came down hard and quickly on Dole.

Nelson Warfield, Dole's campaign spokesman, added that Dole ``shared that with Jack Kemp, and Jack Kemp got the message loud and clear.''

During the ceremony Saturday, Kemp joked about one aspect of their differences - Dole's spartan use of language compared with Kemp's legendary verbosity.

He said he had asked Dole how long he wanted him to speak at Saturday's rally. He said that Dole replied, ``Jack, you can speak as long as you want, but we're only going to be here for five more minutes.''

After hearing Kemp, Elmer Steinle, a 73-year-old lifelong Russell resident, who had been silent throughout both speeches, said: ``He's long-winded, isn't he?''

When Dole called Kemp on Friday night from his home here, wearing a blue work shirt, khakis and leaning back in his easy chair, he told him: ``You've been on my radar screen for 45 days, you just didn't know it.''

Not many others knew it either. Reed, a longtime aide to Kemp in the 1980s, said that the campaign did not seek detailed financial information from Kemp until Thursday. He said Kemp had not moved into the ``top tier'' of candidates, winnowed down from an initial 25 in April, until Friday.

Explaining what moved Kemp into the top tier, Reed said: ``Dole made a decision.''

Rod DeArment, a Dole aide who helped in the vetting process, said that Kemp's previous runs for Congress and for the presidency in 1988 had served as the ``supreme kind of vetting.''

During the day Friday, Reed called seven other contenders to tell them they had not made the cut. But when DeArment left Washington on Friday afternoon to meet the vice presidential candidate, he did not know where he was going. Reed said he called Kemp by phone Friday afternoon to find out where he was going to be and ``to see how his head was, and it was great.''

Eventually, DeArment was directed to Dallas, where he and Sheila Burke, Dole's longtime chief of staff when he was in the Senate, met Kemp, who had been delayed by a flight from Orlando, Fla. The entourage left in a private jet for Kansas and spent the night at a Holiday Inn in Great Bend, 38 miles south of Russell, before being whisked into Russell on Saturday morning.

Even as the news of the selection had been out for several hours, Dole, who enjoys surprises, had told Kemp on the phone, ``We're going to figure out if we can sneak you in through the back door of our little house here.''

Warfield said later, ``As Bob Dole generally does, he got his way.'' To the laughter of the press corps, he added: ``As you know he came in the back way here this morning, and we think that helped build the suspense for the unveiling we just had on the front porch.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Bob Dole with his newly chosen vice pr esidential candidate, Jack Kemp, greets supporters at a rally in Kansas on Saturday.

(2) Jack Kemp, left, Bob Dole, and Elizabeth Dole address supporters in Dole's hometown of Russell, Kan.

Associated Press