RUSSELL, Kan. — Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole returned to his Kansas hometown this weekend for a once-a-decade celebration.
Dole greeted hundreds of people Friday night at Russell’s conference center and was joined by two other former senators, his wife, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, and Dole’s fellow Russell High School graduate, Sen. Arlen Specter.
The Salina Journal reported the Republican, who has run unsuccessfully for vice president and president, said he would like to see U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus on the GOP presidential ticket in 2012.
“It’s time for somebody that the American people can have confidence in,” the World War II veteran said to reporters at the Dole-Specter Conference Center.
He said President Barack Obama got “a bit of a bounce” in his public approval when Osama bin Laden was killed this spring. But Dole also criticized the president. “As long as the teleprompter is working, he’ll be OK,” Dole said.
Dole was a senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican nominee in the 1996 U.S. presidential election, losing to Bill Clinton. A sports star in high school and college, war hero and politician, Dole, now 87, was showered with praise Friday from the food court downtown to the fairgrounds.
Russell’s Prairiesta celebration is held every 10 years, and started in 1941 to honor the town and the county’s history. Dole said he hasn’t missed many Prairiestas, if any. The Associated Press
