Dole, Buchanan Campaign In California Ahead Of Tuesday's Vote

From Correspondent Candy Crowley/CNN

YORBA LINDA, California (AllPolitics, March 24) -- With less than 48 hours to go before polls open in California, the GOP's nominee-apparent Bob Dole took his campaign Sunday to the Nixon gravesite and presidential library.

Nixon was a personal friend and frequent advisor of Dole's, and Sunday's trip was a pre-primary pilgrimage into Nixon territory.

"He liked to give advice, and I liked to receive advice from somebody who knew what they were talking about," Dole said.

Dole told the party faithful gathered at the Nixon complex that Clinton's 20-point lead in California will not stand.

"Let's start off by saying we're not going to write off California in 1996," he said. "We're going to fight to the bitter end."(136K AIFF or 136K WAV sound)

Dole was warmly welcomed in a Vietnamese community later on Sunday, where he backed a California ballot initiative that opposes preferences based on gender or race in state programs that award jobs, contracts or college admissions.

"We ought to eliminate preferences," Dole said. "It ought to be based on merit." (102K AIFF or 102K WAV sound)

Although Dole traveled in California practicing for the general election, Pat Buchanan was still in the primary race. Buchanan said that his options are open -- from running on a third party ticket, to refusing to endorse Dole.

"I know who they want me to endorse, but I'm not sure yet what they want me to endorse," Buchanan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." (366K AIFF or 366K WAV sound)

He warned that the Republican party "is riding two horses" and must choose before November between what he called the conflicting interests of middle America versus corporate America. He said he could be driven to a third party challenge, "if the Republican party slams the door in our face, if advocates of Sen. Dole go back to insulting us and saying we're going to be driven out of the convention." (196K AIFF or 196K WAV sound)

Later on Sunday, Buchanan pushed the issues he plans to promote at the GOP convention in August. He toured an avocado ranch, where he attacked a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement that he said would bring pesticide-laden produce to the U.S. At another rally, he repeated his plan to dramatically downsize the federal government, especially the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Buchanan's refusal to give up his campaign forces Dole to use a "get out the vote" campaign. Winning the primary is no longer the Kansas senator's problem -- but the larger the margin of victory Tuesday, the less Dole will have to deal with Buchanan in the days that follow.

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