 What makes Dole different from the other candidates?
For these three, the post-game spin contest is crucial. Here's a playback of their takes on the straw poll results and a look ahead at their playbook of messages for the remainder of the race. Dole needed to get within striking distance of Bush and to seal off the rest of the pack behind her. 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. As Fox News' Carl Cameron put it: "The other seven candidates could not crack double digits." The Boston Globe called Dole "the winner of this contest-within-the-contest." Dole touted her "victory" on every talk show and cited the Myers and Globe quotes in a press release. 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." Her spokesman told reporters that "on a dollar-per-vote basis, Elizabeth Dole trounced George Bush and Steve Forbes." "From a strict cost-benefit standpoint, the big winner may be Elizabeth Dole," concluded Time . 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