Little Rock ? Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole on Saturday said he advised Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry to stop putting so much emphasis on his war record.

“I think you have to be very careful with the war record,” Dole told an audience of about 750 people attending the first lecture in a series planned for the Clinton School for Public Service.

The former senator from Kansas said the debate in the presidential race should focus more on how Kerry and President Bush would handle Iraq and other foreign policy issues.

When the World War II veteran ran as the Republican presidential nominee against Bill Clinton in 1996, Dole said, Kerry maintained that Dole’s war record “didn’t mean anything. It shouldn’t make any difference in the campaign.” Dole told his audience that Kerry was “probably right” on that point.

Dole was the first speaker in the series. In May, Clinton gave the inaugural lecture at the Dole Institute in Lawrence.