Before her speech Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention in New York, Sen. Elizabeth Dole addressed media questions about her husband’s criticism of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and Kerry’s service in Vietnam.

Appearing on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday, the North Carolina senator demurred when asked by host Bill Hemmer whether she agreed with former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole’s doubts about the severity of Kerry’s wounds in the Vietnam War, which led to his three Purple Heart medals. A week earlier Bob Dole, in an interview with the network’s Wolf Blitzer, said that Kerry’s injuries were “superficial” and that the Massachusetts senator “never bled, that I know of.” Hemmer asked Sen. Dole whether her husband stood by his comments.

“You know, Bob Dole, his comments are his comments,” Sen. Dole said. “But clearly, I think as a veteran, he has earned the right to make his views known.”

She then guided the interview to the subject of the Section 527 organizations, named for their classification under Internal Revenue Service laws and used for partisan political purposes to advertise against opposing candidates. Democrats have complained about ads produced by one such group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which have criticized Kerry about his actions during and after the Vietnam War. Bob Dole’s remarks appeared to be based on claims made by the members of the group who served with Kerry.

“I respect John Kerry’s record,” Sen. Dole said. “But the problem here is there’s been about $60 million of negative ads focused on the president. I mean, they have been pummeling him, these 527s.

“So, it’s important to bring them all down. That’s what the president is asking for.”

While condemning the political groups, which were created as the result of campaign finance reform signed by President Bush in 2002, Sen. Dole explained her husband’s comments.

“John Kerry came back from Vietnam, and he began to criticize,” she said about his anti-war activities in the early 1970s. “He went before the Congress. He talked about atrocities at the time when our troops were still over there. And a lot of this, it seems, was based on hearsay. And so Bob made his views known.”

Hemmer gave Sen. Dole one more chance to agree or disagree with her husband, and she returned to the subject of campaign financing.

“Listen, Bob Dole’s views are Bob Dole’s views,” she answered. “My view is these are all 527s which ought to all be brought down. It ought to be stopped.”

Hemmer responded, “And this was all supposed to be eliminated through campaign finance reform and the laws that were passed several years ago. Have those laws failed, then?”

“Well, I think there’s certainly more to be done, don’t you?” Sen. Dole said. “There’s more to be done.”

In other television interviews this week, Sen. Dole answered questions about North Carolina politics, gender politics, geographical politics, ethnic politics, and presidential politics. On CNN’s “Larry King Live,” she appeared with her husband and said there was “no question” that Bush would again carry North Carolina, despite the presence of Sen. John Edwards on the Democratic ticket.

“Senator Edwards will not make a difference?” King asked.

“I don’t really think so,” Sen. Dole said. “Having him on the ticket means some of the issues that we care about maybe are being discussed, that’s great. But people vote for the top of the ticket, and North Carolinians share the president’s values.”

On MSNBC’s “Hardball” Monday night, host Chris Matthews similarly asked Sen. Dole whether Edwards could draw the electoral votes in North Carolina, or whether he could have been re-elected as senator if he ran this year. Predictably, she said, “whether it was Erskine Bowles or whether it was John Edwards, Richard Burr, who’s doing a tremendous job, will be the next senator from North Carolina.”

Matthews then turned to gender politics, and asked Sen. Dole why First Lady Laura Bush “has taken an extremely out-front position in this campaign,” and referred specifically to her positions on stem-cell research and the Swift Boat Veterans’ ads against Kerry.

“Are you folks trying to…gin up a fight between Laura Bush and Teresa Heinz Kerry?” Matthews asked.

“I’ve heard nothing like that,” Dole said. “Laura Bush is just a great asset, and obviously she ought to be out as much as possible.”

Matthews wondered why in the history of the Republican Party, “that began back with Lincoln in the 1850s,” that the party had never before held its convention in New York City. “Explain,” he demanded.

“Well, obviously,” Dole began, “and I’ve not been around all that time, but let me just say that…”

“Well, Bob has,” Matthews interrupted, drawing laughter from other panelists.

“Obviously, we’d like to win more support from New York,” Dole said, “and I think you go where you want to get your message out. With 9/11, it has a strong significance for all of us as Americans.”

Matthews asked about that night’s chief convention speaker, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has been rumored as a presidential candidate in 2008.

“Could somebody with a Yankee name like Giuliani get elected in a Tar Heel state…if he runs for president?” Matthews asked.

“Let me just say this,” Dole said, “that when I ran for the Senate in 2002, I invited him to North Carolina, and he was very, very well-received.”

Matthews then addressed Dole’s own intentions for 2008.

“(Sen.) Hillary (Rodham Clinton)’s going to run for re-election as a senator up here in New York in 2006,” Matthews said. “If you felt that if she ran for the presidency in 2008, (if) the Republican Party should not look like it’s behind the times in terms of running women, wouldn’t that encourage you to run yourself?”

Saying she had no plans to run, Dole still left the door open a crack.

“Let’s just let the future unfold, OK?” she said.

Paul Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal. Contact him at [email protected].