RESTED, WITTY DOLE EARNS $200, RAVE REVIEW ON TV.

Byline: Katharine Q. Seelye The New York Times

Bob Dole is out of work, but he picked up an easy $200 on Friday night by going on the David Letterman show.

In one of his first public appearances since losing the presidency on Tuesday night, a relaxed and joking Dole sat and chatted with Letterman at the Warner Theater here and showed the nation a chipper and upbeat side.

His chief complaint is not about Bill Clinton or the Democrats. In fact, he was quite friendly about them. When Letterman said Clinton is ``fat'' and weighs ``300 pounds,'' Dole replied: ``I never tried to lift him. I just tried to beat him.''

But he has nothing to do now.

Dole noted that he had unofficially announced his candidacy on Late Night in February 1995, and he wanted to know what went wrong.

``You said if I came on the show, everything would be fine,'' Dole said. ``But at least I get 200 bucks for being here tonight. First work I had.''

Letterman told Dole he looked good and not at all tired. ``You look like you've already bounced back and are ready to go,'' the host said.

``I'm ready,'' Dole said. ``But there's no place to go.''

Dole, 73, also wanted to know what Letterman would do with all of the jokes about his age. The host said he was going to ship them down to Florida so Dole could fan himself with them.

``That might be helpful,'' Dole noted.

Letterman asked what the former Senate majority leader might do next. Would he consider a job with the Clinton administration, if one were offered?

``Well, if he wanted to give me his job, I'd think about it,'' Dole replied. At another point, he said that he might work with people who have disabilities.

Letterman asked what it was like having to call the president on election night and admit defeat.

``I called him collect,'' deadpanned Dole, who likes to play on his Jack Benny image as a cheapskate. ``Our campaign has been broke for months,'' he added.

Dole said he told the president, simply: ``I lost.''

Turning momentarily serious, he said that the conversation went like this: ``I said, congratulations, Mr. President, you won. It wasn't close. We both worked very hard. And I said, you know, let's get together and talk about it - not talk about it, but talk about America sometime.''

Dole added: ``My slogan was `A better man for a better America.' But I'm going to head for Florida. My slogan is going to be `A better tan for a better America.' ''

He also said he thinks his season is over.

``I think there's a time to go, a time to leave,'' he said of the Senate. ``In fact, if you left, I might try to get your job.''

Asked if he had any unfinished business in the Senate that he wished he could attend to, Dole answered: ``I think obviously things like Medicare and campaign finance reform are serious matters - balancing the budget. And I still believe that a lot of working people out there need a little money back from the government through a tax cut,'' a reference to his proposed 15 percent across-the-board tax cut, which voters told pollsters they were skeptical of.

Asked what he learned about himself and the country in his 18-month campaign, Dole said: ``I first learned how great the American people are. I mean, whether Democrats or Republican or Independents. And even those carrying Clinton-Gore signs were nice people, and many of them joined our rallies.''

He added: ``I learned a lot about myself. Obviously you like to win, but you have to accept defeat and look ahead.''

Letterman and Dole also talked about Ross Perot, whom Letterman brought up by asking, ``Well, is Perot nuts?''

``He's rich,'' Dole observed. ``Maybe he'd adopt me since I lost.''

Dole noted that his attempt to get Perot out of the race ``didn't turn out too well.'' Said Letterman: ``I can't imagine any visit with Perot turning out too well, for some reason.''

In a subsequent segment, Letterman chatted with the host of Nightline, Ted Koppel, who gave Dole's performance a rave review.

``If Bob Dole had only showed that side of himself a little more often,'' Koppel began before he was drowned out by applause from the audience.

Letterman said: ``He is genuinely very, very funny as a man.''

``A very funny man,'' Koppel concurred, launching into a story about traveling on the road with Dole on one of his bus trips through Ohio. Traveling in the first bus, Koppel said, those aboard had the feeling of being alone. But when the bus went over an overpass, they could see their retinue included 45 or 50 other vehicles.

``He looks out the window and he says, `God,' he says, `it looks like the funeral procession of a really great man,' '' Koppel said, as the audience laughed. Koppel added: ``He was right.''

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Photo

Photo: (color) Bob Dole appears with David Letterman on Friday night.

Associated Press