Lead Editorial from the New York Times, Wednesay, December 20, 1995. page A20.

Call Him Mr. Flexible

The importance of Bob Dole's decision to soften his views on abortion lies in what it says about the struggle within the Republican Party.

Surprisingly, despite all the caterwauling from Pat Buchanan and from Ralph Reed and his Christian Coalition, the party's mainstream majority may slowly be bending G.O.P. policy  to fit their libertarian views on abortion.

Their headway on reclaiming this issue from the militant fringe is part of a process pushed along by the party's most popular candidate, Colin Powell.

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Mr. Dole's appearance on "Meet the Press" last Sunday was notable for two things.

One was his statement that he would no longer support the constitutional ban on abortion favored by the right-wingers.

"I would not do it again," he said.

The other was a powerful hint that he would welcome General Powell on the ticket.

This was a telling juxtaposition, for it was General Powell who got the moderate Republican position on abortion out on the table and gave it a  new and stronger currency.

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General Powell supports a woman's right to choose, and that is pretty much where rank-and-file Republicans come out.

Since 1980, the Republican platform has opposed abortion without exceptions and promoted an ammendment to ban the procedure.

This platform was crafted to win votes for Ronald Reagan and George Bush from Protestant fundamentalists and conservative Catholics.

Presidents Reagan and Bush rightly figured that Republicans would vote for them on fiscal grounds and ignore this bow to authoritarian social policy.

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But times have changed.

The excesses of the anti-abortion movement have repelled suburban Republicans who want their taxes cut but would not like Ralph Reed making medical decisions for them and their children.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Republican politicians, including Christine Todd Whitman and William Weld, have developed the stiffer spines that were out of fashion among Eastern Republicans during the Bush years.

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For a flexible thinker like Mr. Dole, this has put things awhirl.

He knows that traditional Republicans are not right-to-lifers.

A New York Times/CBS Poll in October disclosed that only about one-fourth of all Republicans favored a flat ban on abortion, whereas more than two-thirds said that abortion should be an option.

General Powell's tolerance on abortion made Mr. Dole's decision to dance the Falwell fandango look particularly cheap.

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So Mr. Dole starting (sic) spinning back toward the center, leading the right-to-life enforcers to raise the usual threats.

Another Dole reversal followed in the form of a letter saying that he was still pro-life, that he opposed Roe v. Wade and that all he really meant to say was that he would oppose a constitutional amendment only if it failed to make exceptions for rape, incest, and life-threatening situations.

But it was clear that he had moved -- or at least revolved.

The ever-pugnacious Pat Buchanan said that Mr. Dole had begun a slow march away "from unqualified support for the right to life."

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This page, which supports Roe v. Wade and opposes a constitutional ban, believes that Mr. Dole will, indeed, swing back to a sensible position when and if he has the nomination safely in hand.

After all, he would need moderate Democrats and independents in the general election, and they do not listen to Gary Bauer and his Family Research Council on abortion.

Meanwhile, that majority of Republicans who believe in women's right to choose can warm themselves with old dreams of a candidate who believed what they believed on Sunday and on Monday, too.