 What makes Dole different from the other candidates?
Pundits bought the three-winners line, treating Ames as a horse race ("win, place, and show") and noting that "no one's ever won the Republican nomination without finishing in the top three" at Ames. Newspapers, cramped for space, confined their headlines to Bush, Forbes, and Dole. The Boston Globe called Dole "the winner of this contest-within-the-contest." At a news conference, an aide introduced Dole as the straw poll's "real winner." In every TV interview, Dole claimed to have been "outspent by millions of dollars." Dismissive coverage of Dole before the straw poll played to her advantage, as everyone marveled at her "surprisingly" strong third.
 A certain part of her identity might make her sympathetic to the voters in a way that would not work for the other candidates
 Dole had significant financial backing from the fruit company of the same name  She's more conservative than the others  She's more sympathetic to the voters because of her upbringing  A certain part of her identity might make her sympathetic to the voters in a way that would not work for the other candidates