Now as he proceeds to San Diego and the Republican National Convention, he must make one of the biggest choices of the campaign. He has to select a running mate.
According to campaign reports, Dole advisors are searching for someone to counterbalance the GOP's reputation as the first and last bastion of the white American male.
Even now campaign aides are chuckling over the nickname for the potential Dole vice presidential candidates: "pudgy white guys."
Another white, male GOP candidate isn't going to expand Dole's voter base.
It's time for a surprise.
So what if the last time a GOP presidential candidate tried that we wound up with Dan Quayle as vice president? They won, didn't they?
So what if this is a bit of a stretch? Who wants to read a column that fears to speculate?
That's why Dole ought to think about Hawaii's Pat Saiki as VP candidate. She been working for Dole since January, she's already a national campaign committee co-chairwoman and she's already on the letterhead.
Just last week Saiki was advising the Dole campaign, which is drafting policy on small business tax reform.
Dole used the information for a speech that is expected to become part of the GOP's tax platform.
Just her inclusion makes her valuable to the Dole campaign, not so much in Hawaii, where she and the GOP are already linked, but on the mainland, where it is unusual to find many GOP Asian-American women.
Mostly it is Saiki and Cheryl Lau, general counsel to the U.S. House, mentioned when someone looks for a GOP minority woman.
As one GOP supporter said of Saiki: "She carries a lot of weight and value in mainland markets."
While Saiki isn't a wedge candidate, she is that rare Republican who is a moderate, pro-choice, former elected official who is also a minority and a woman.
Other women who have been mentioned include Jeane Kirkpatrick, former United Nations representative; Lynn Martin, former congresswoman and HUD secretary; Carla Hills, former trade representative; and Edith Jones, a Texas U.S. Appeals Court judge.
BUT outside of Martin, a former House member, there is no real electoral experience. Saiki, however, served in the Hawaii House and Senate, she was elected to Congress and she's run several campaigns.
She also has lost some big races, including lieutenant governor, U.S. Senate and governor. As a former SBA administrator, Saiki has some inside-the-Beltway connections. She also has had a televised role in the last two Republican conventions.
An Asian woman would help attract states rich with immigrants to Dole. A pro-choice woman Republican would satisfy many of the moderate Republicans who are nervous about the conservative elements dominating party politics.
I'll be the first to say nobody is going to be getting an order for a million Saiki for VP buttons, but just the rumor of it would liven up what appears to be a dreary convention for the GOP.