DOLE SKIPS DALLAS GOP DEBATE.

Byline: Associated Press 

Sharing a stage dominated by the candidate who didn't show up, a trio of GOP "outsiders" debated taxes, abortion and family values in a televised forum Friday and aimed their fire on Bob Dole in absentia.

Dole played the confident front-runner, skipping the session to campaign in Florida and Tennessee and deriding the Dallas forum as "what they're calling a debate."

Seated comfortably in armchairs, Pat Buchanan, Steve Forbes and Alan Keyes hammered away at their pet issues, making clear they were staying in the race against improbable odds in order to influence the Republican platform.

Forbes said his aim was to gather an "unmistakable mandate from the voters" for passing a flat tax next year without having Congress "cut it to pieces."

Buchanan drew a battle line, of sorts, on abortion and said Dole had an obligation to be present and let voters know where he stands. Buchanan, who accuses Dole of "waffling" on his commitment to outlaw the procedure, appealed to anti-abortion activists, saying, "If you stand your ground on a moral issue and fight and fight and fight, eventually you're going to change public opinion."

POLITICAL UPDATE

Here are Friday's developments on the campaign trail:

The candidates

Pat Buchanan: Vowed not to quit the race, saying he would "walk on in this battle as long as it takes." He was headed to a debate with Steve Forbes and long-shot contender Alan Keyes in Dallas, and scolded Dole for not showing up. "If (Dole) can't debate me, how's he going to do against Bill Clinton?" he asked at a morning rally in Baton Rouge, La.

Bob Dole: Suggested that Buchanan and Forbes should quit the race so the Republican Party can be unified heading into the general election this fall. "It would be a lot better if we were all together," Dole said in Tampa, Fla. He has more than a third of the 996 delegates needed for the nomination after a big win in the New York primary Thursday. But, always cautious, Dole added that it was "probably too early" to call himself the presumptive nominee. He then said, with unconcealed delight, "I'm right on top."

Steve Forbes: Is in the GOP presidential race "all the way," he said while campaigning in Texas. Forbes finished a distant second to Dole in the New York primary, despite an aggressive $2.5 million effort there.

Bill Clinton: Released his first political ad of the year. The 30-second spot has sound bites from the president's State of the Union speech, interspersed with warm glimpses of children, a woman with her family at dinner, and a father leaving for work. "Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America's families," the president says in the commercial.

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Box Political Update (see text)