Bob Dole dies: Longtime U.S. Senator, presidential candidate and TV pitchman was 98

The New York Times

Dole, who overcame a grievous injury suffered in Italy in World War II to become a stalwart of the U.S. Senate representing Kansas, died in his sleep Sunday, 10 months after announcing he had Stage 4 lung cancer. Dole's death comes three months after he paid tribute to Norm Macdonald, the comedian who portrayed him on Saturday Night Live, who died in September of cancer. "A Republican, Mr. Dole was one of the most durable political figures in the last decades of the last century. He was nominated for vice president in 1976 and then for president a full 20 years later," Katharine Q. Seeyle writes in Dole's New York Times obituary. "He spent a quarter-century in the Senate, where he was his party’s longest-serving leader until Mitch McConnell of Kentucky surpassed that record in June 2018." Dole ran for president three times, losing to President Bill Clinton 25 years ago, in 1996. Following his loss, Dole remade his image as a TV pitchman for companies such as Viagra, Target, Visa, Pepsi and Dunkin' Donuts, using the money he earned to donate to charity. "I just want people to know there's life after losing an election, and I think you can be a winner, even sometimes when you lose, and you can set an example for other people," Dole said in 1997. "Now my career in politics is over, but I remain committed to providing you, the people of Kansas, with better opportunities, better resources and better choices," Dole said in a Target ad. "With all this in mind, I would like to ask all of you one question: Paper or plastic?" In 2001, Dole poked fun at his Viagra ads with a Pepsi Super Bowl ad featuring Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet. Dole also famously appeared in Britney Spears' Pepsi ad. “Once you lose,” he once told The New York Times, “people like you.”