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Buchanan jumping to Reform Party
October 13, 1999 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pat Buchanan, the fiery conservative populist whose third attempt at the GOP presidential nomination has sputtered, will switch to the Reform Party and seek its presidential nomination, CNN has learned. Buchanan has scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference on October 25 in Falls Church, Virginia to announce his decision, informed sources said. Falls Church is a Washington suburb. The action comes after weeks of hints from Buchanan's campaign that he would leave the Republican field and join the Reform camp. Buchanan's campaign had no immediate comment on the report. Buchanan was a thorn in the side of GOP front-runners Bob Dole in 1996 and then-President George Bush in 1992. He won several key races in 1996, including a New Hampshire primary victory. But he has not enjoyed the same level of support in this election cycle. Most national polls show Buchanan with less than 5 percent support among Republicans. However, he polls better as a Reform candidate in a general election. Most recent polls show Buchanan would gain about 10 percent support if the election were held today and he was matched up against Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the GOP front-runner; and Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic front-runner. Republicans have made repeated attempts to assure Buchanan did not stray from the field. Republican National Chairman Jim Nicholson met late last month with Buchanan in an attempt to keep him in place. "I asked him to consider very carefully before taking any action that could in any way help Al Gore or Bill Bradley extend the Clinton/Gore era another four years," Nicholson said in a statement following the meeting at Buchanan's suburban McLean, Virginia home. The meeting was requested by Nicholson, and afterward a source close to the party chairman told CNN, "No one knows what the outcome will be. Buchanan said he'd be thinking about this a while." Buchanan has been a lifelong Republican who worked in the White House under Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush has urged him to stay in the party, but after a new round of controversy last month over Buchanan's new book, which questions whether the United States should have taken on Hitler's Germany in World War II, other Republicans have questioned his place in the GOP. Another candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain, a Navy pilot shot down in the Vietnam war and a POW for more than five years, has said there is no place in the party for someone who holds the views expressed in Buchanan's book -- "A Republic, Not an Empire." |
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MORE STORIES:Wednesday, October 13, 1999
• Voting on test ban treaty growing more likely • Independent counsel investigation of Babbitt ends with no charges • AFL-CIO endorses Gore for Democratic nomination • Clinton moves to protect 40 million acres of unspoiled forests • First couple hosts millennium evening • Senate turns aside filibuster threat on farm aid • House passes bill to tighten 'date rape' drug restrictions • Alabama rejects governor's plan for a lottery • Colorado governor, lieutenant governor settle feud | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||