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Buchanan expected to leave GOP MondayOctober 24, 1999 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After three unsuccessful attempts to win the Republican presidential nomination, Pat Buchanan is expected to officially announce Monday that he is forsaking the GOP for the Reform Party. The conservative commentator, who worked in the Nixon and Reagan White Houses, is scheduled to announce his intentions before a crowd of supporters in suburban Virginia at 10 a.m. Buchanan sought the GOP nomination in both 1992 and 1996, throwing a scare into President George Bush and former Sen. Bob Dole with stronger-than-expected showings in early primary contests. But he wasn't able to sustain that momentum in either campaign, and he has trailed far behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican field -- both in the polls and in raising money.
Buchanan, who has never held elected office, has been mulling over a party switch for several months. He says a third-party bid may be just what he needs to finally fulfill his presidential ambitions. "If you get into the debates in a free-wheeling forum with Mr. Gore -- who I think the country doesn't want but he's stronger than you think -- and Mr. Bush -- who is going to have a tough year -- and we're in three debates together, I think I can win the presidency," Buchanan says.
If he gets the Reform Party's nomination, Buchanan would also have access to $13 million in federal campaign funds to which the party is entitled based on the strength of Ross Perot's 1996 showing. Whether Buchanan's social conservatism and controversial opinions will take him any further in the Reform Party than they did in the Republican Party remains to be seen. However, his protectionist trade policies do resonate among the Reform faithful -- and could even drain blue-collar union support from the Democrats.
Republicans split over Buchanan's departureRepublicans have been split over whether they should encourage Buchanan to stay or welcome his departure -- a split was evident on Sunday's political talk shows. "I hate to see Pat leave. I think better for conservatives to stay in Republican Party. But he is obviously made his decision, and I'm hoping a lot of his support will come my way," said Gary Bauer, a conservative activist also running for the Republican nomination, on CNN's "Late Edition." But former Republican Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire said he believes Buchanan ought to leave the party, particularly in the wake of a controversial book in which he wrote that Germany posed no military threat to the United States in 1940. "Many people are starting to believe that if he is not a anti-Semite, he certainly is doing a wonderful imitation," Rudman said on CBS's "Face The Nation." "Both the Democratic and the Republican parties stand for equality of all people. We have no room in our party, it seems to me, for someone who writes the things that he's written in the last year." "I'm sorry to see anyone have to leave our party, but there comes a point where enough is enough," Rudman said. But former President Bush, interviewed on "Fox News Sunday," said that he holds no animosity toward Buchanan -- even though many people believe Buchanan's 1992 challenge to Bush helped elect Bill Clinton. "You can't help but like the guy," Bush said. "I just hope that he doesn't get all over my boys." CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley contributed to this report. |
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