Barbour Says GOP Let Voters Choose Candidate for Party

Aired March 27, 1996

BERNARD SHAW, Anchor: A sped-up primary season may be good for particular candidates such as Bob Dole, but is it good for their parties? Well, joining us now from San Francisco, Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour.

Is it back to the drawing board on this break-neck primary, front- loaded season?

HALEY BARBOUR, Chair, Republican National Committee: Bernie, as you know, in January, I appointed a special task force of the Republican National Committee to look at this very question, and I don't want to prejudge what they will report back to the full committee, but I think it is of enough concern that we had to appoint a task force and look at whether this compressed schedule was good for the party, bad for the party, and in my view, most importantly, is it good for the Republican voters in the United States? Does it give them the best opportunity for meaningful participation, to choose the strongest candidate? That is the sole controlling test, and I look forward to getting that report late in the spring.

SHAW: On your party's presidential nominee, the fat lady has sung?

BARBOUR: Yeah, that's right. You know, the Republican National Committee has stayed on the sidelines, and I, as its chairman, have been neutral, as Judy said, because we believe the millions of Republican voters in the United States ought to choose our nominee. It's not for me as chairman or any elites or party hierarchy, and millions of Republican primary voters have spoken, as Bruce Morton said in his report. Dole has won 27 straight primaries. It is a remarkable achievement, particularly when just a few weeks ago, people were talking about would this be brokered convention, would Dole be able to survive at all? So, it's a great tribute to Bob Dole. You know, it's another example of Bob Dole being tested and proven, and frankly, I think it will make him a stronger general election candidate for having had to go through this, get up off the canvass, brush himself off, and then mow down the field 27 times in a row.

SHAW: Now you've talked with Pat Buchanan. What did you tell him, and what did he tell you, briefly?

BARBOUR: Actually, I talked to Bay. I talked to his sister and campaign manager, because Pat was on the road in California, and I simply advised her that because yesterday Senator Dole went over the top, and I think it's fitting that California, a crucially important state, put him over the top, that we would from last night forward, treat Senator Dole as our nominee. As far as the party is concerned, this nomination is over. Bob Dole has mathematically clinched. The voters have spoken.

SHAW: And she said?

BARBOUR: We had a very pleasant, business-like, or pleasant conversation- I would rather- I think it's only fair to let Bay characterize what she said. I would only say it was friendly, and Pat and Bay are long-time friends of mine. We had that sort of conversation.

SHAW: OK. Mr. Barbour, please, very brief answers, a lot of ground to cover with you, and the next question is, `Will Pat Buchanan have a prime-time chest- chance to get things off his chest?'

BARBOUR: Well, it depends on the news media, but if you're talking about the convention, we haven't even begun to plan the conventions. We said, as you know, Bernie, last year, because we were likely to have a nominee by the end of March we wouldn't start planning our convention program until April. So we haven't even started on that yet.

SHAW: OK. Are you making a trap door for Ross Perot?

BARBOUR: Look, I learned a long time ago that you're not very smart to try to figure out what Ross Perot is going to do. When I was elected chairman, I said we should be concerned about the 19 percent of Americans who voted for Ross Perot, and not for Ross Perot, and that is why we have worked hard at the grass-roots level, at the county and state level, to involve people who voted for Perot in our party. Over 70 percent of the people who voted for Perot in 1992 voted Republican in 1994. We intend to keep that high percentage, and the way we're doing it is by keeping our promises. Perot's biggest issue in '92 was a balanced budget. The Republican Congress passed a the first balanced budget in 26 years.

SHAW: OK. All right. Let me ask-

BARBOUR: And Bill Clinton vetoed it and so on.

SHAW: OK. Let me ask two final quick questions. One, are you going to go or stay after the election?

BARBOUR: As chairman, you mean?

SHAW: Yes.

BARBOUR: Oh, I'm going to- unless somebody thinks otherwise, I'm going to stay as chairman until the end of my term in January of next year, and then win, lose, or draw, I will not run again for chairman.

SHAW: OK.

BARBOUR: Four years is plenty.

SHAW: President Clinton is an insider here in Washington. The senate majority, insider here in Washington. How can either man claim to be American, nationwide, values, et cetera, and all the other campaign rhetoric?

BARBOUR: I think it all turns on the issues, Bernie. If you look at what Bob Dole has done as Senate leader-

SHAW: Ten seconds.

BARBOUR: The reforms that this Congress passed and Bill Clinton vetoed, Bob Dole made those reforms possible for passage, and the only thing that stopped them - balanced budget, welfare reform, tax cuts for families, and economic growth - the only thing standing between America and those reforms is Bill Clinton.

SHAW: Haley Barbour, Chairman, Republican National Committee. Thanks very much, we'll see you on the trail.

BARBOUR: Thanks, Bernie.

SHAW: Always a pleasure.

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