Buchanan Hints At A Third Party Run

TOLEDO, Ohio (AllPolitics, March 14) -- Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan today sent a clear message to Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.) and the GOP establishment: keep up the insults and I might spoil your party next fall. (256K AIFF or WAV sound)

"If they keep slamming the door in my face and they tell your people you don't want them, then you've got to think about what you're going to do," Buchanan said on local Toledo TV shows today. What might he do? His biggest trump card could be bolting the GOP and mounting a third party candidacy in the fall.

That's possibly the single most damaging wound he could inflict on Dole and the GOP. His uncompromising stand on abortion and his blistering attacks on free trade have the GOP establishment in fits, but allowing Buchanan to exit the party would likely bid adieu to a group of voters crucial to Dole's hopes of defeating President Bill Clinton: religious conservatives, Reagan Democrats and Ross Perot voters.

Six Of One, Half Dozen Of The Other? Giving the conservative firebrand the kind of prominence he wants at the GOP convention next August, however, presages a replay of Buchanan's divisive 1992 convention speech. Aired during TV prime time, Buchanan's angry calls for a "holy war" shocked many moderates; it may have hurt former President Bush substantially.

Buchanan has often stated his allegience to the Republican Party and he could simply be flexing his political muscles. But the gap between his views and the GOP is widening. "This has been a miracle campaign," he roared at rally Wednesday night. "Nobody thought we could get this far. We started with nothing but ideas, convictions and beliefs." That's all Buchanan may end up with come November -- but, then again, that may be just fine with him.

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